Early resistance raids on the Murrumbidgee:

"GENTLEMEN, - Last night was brought down in acart from my station on the Murrumbidgee below Wondibadgeree, a man named Peter Carroll, whohad been wounded with a spear by the natives atthat place, under the following circumstances:-About the hour of midnight of the 26th of last month, Peter Carroll, who was the watchman ofthe folds at one of my sheep stations, was  suddenly alarmed by the violent rushing of the sheep. Onlooking towards the place he saw something black which induced him to call out to the shepherds inthe hut. He then discovered that about 30 natives had surrounded the folds and were endeavouring to steal a sheep, and exclaimed to them, if they did not go away he would fire on them. (Here I must observe, that he had no fire arms, but said so todeter them from what they evidently intended lodo.) Instantly he received a jagged spear in hisbelly, which, fortunately taking an oblique directiontowards the right side, did not penetrate the abdo-men, but was withdrawn by himself, leaving how-ever a considerable piece of the weapon in thewound, which has not yet been entirely extracted.Many more spears were thrown which did but littleexecution. They then decamped taking with themone sheep and scattering the whole of the rest fromthe fold. This is the fifth sheep they have stolenfrom me within the short space of two months ;but they never used a spear before although theyhave threatened it, and actually surrounded one ofthe shepherds in the day time and were preparingto throw their spears, when they were preventedby the sight of a musket - on that occasion they carried off a sheep."

Night raids on stations and groups of Wiradjuri people numbering up to a thousand near stations cause fear among colonists: 'My overseer writes, "the blacks took from Bamen, or Bammen, (native name of one of my stations) after endeavouring to kill the calves in the pen, but which ran off to their dams, one of the shepherd's pea coats, Carroll's bed, blanket, shirt, trowsers, and frock, and left us, threatening to come on us in the night. They have done us a good deal of mischief, and have been very troublesome ever since you leftus last shearing. They have done Mr. M-----'s herd of cattle a great deal of injury, having killed and eat some - some they have speared, and many more (supposed about 60) they have driven quite away, where they are not to be found, and they still continue the practice. They have laid in ambush to surprise and cut off the man who is incharge, and he is in danger of his life. There is now (March 1) about a thousand of the blacks convenient to our stations; and the shepherds are afraid to graze their sheep, or to watch them atnight, lest the blacks should come on them by surprise." For, contrary to most other tribes, who appear to have a superstitious dread of darkness, these marauders commit their depredations during the night, which makes them the more dangerous. What can be done in this case? Will the Government afford any protection to the people who have ventured to those remote districts with their properly? Or must the men in charge of that property be allowed, or be under the necessity, for self preservation, to take the law into their own hands, and avenge themselves against these savages- one or the other should surely be done; for is it feasible to suppose that men will tamely submit towanton and unprovoked attack, where the law does not afford them any redress?'

A raid at Mr Warby's station was followed by the killing of a suspected leader of the raiding party. Mr Warby's Station is at Mingay (Green, 2002). 'For some months past, the natives all along thatRiver, from Warby's station to 50 miles westwardhave evinced a mischievous disposition, by spearingand killing cattle. It first commenced at Warby's where they killed a fat cow which Mr. W. and his men traced to the camp of the depredators where he pounced upon them in the act of roasting and feeding on the flesh. One of the party fired and wounded one of the tribe, who was suspected to be the ringleader, and the rest fled with precipitation leaving their wounded companion on the field, who I hear has since died in consequence. Since that period they do not appear to have molested Mr.Warby's station a second time ; but the practice has been extensively increased in other herds ; and it has been not at all uncommon for proprietors of stock, when cutting and branding, to find largecalves and full grown cattle with the broken endof aspear protruding from some part of theanimal not immediately mortal. This has occurredin all the herds, with few or no exceptions, nowdepasturing in that part of the Colony.' (p3, Sydney Herald, May 10, 2025)

A hutkeeper was speared and killed, and the hut raided and burned, at the Jenkin's homestead at Buckenbong (near Narrandera), and to be followed by many other raids in the region. 'The blacks have recently done a deal of mischief since the murder of a hut-keeper of Mrs Jenkin's. This man's murder was very coolly planned and perpetrated, viz.—they lay in ambush until the man went to milk his cows, and then threw six spears at him, which went through his body; they afterwards mangled his body with tomahawks, and then plundered the hut, and set fire to it.' (The Sydney Monitor and Commercial Advertiser, May 11, 2025 p2)