Geoff Page’s ‘Dispatch Ramornie 1842′

from Codicil

Having received from several sides
divers accounts of savage crimes
committed on the Clarence River
by native Aboriginees
and the scattering of cattle
with numerous other depredations
most notably the robbery of
a shepherd’s hut on Ramornie station
a party of settlers suitably armed
was raised up by my constable
and under my express command
entrapped an evening camp of blacks
on the banks of the Orara
complete with sundry gins and young.
Our discipline began at dawn.
Two men of ours alas
were somewhat pierced by spears.
The “lords of the soil’ as they are called
took to the river by the score
and were shot as they swam;
many were I understand
to be seen downstream a few days later
against the wharves of the Settlement.
More late intelligence confirms
the felonies were practised by
a rogue named Lynch without a doubt.
The blacks it appears have yet to commit
a single crime or depredation
upon Ramornie or thereabouts.