Another division of settlers was this month added to the list of those already established.  Williams and Ruse, having got rid of the money which they had respectively received for their farms, were permitted, with some others, to open ground on the banks of the Hawkesbury, at the distance of about twenty-four miles from Parramatta.  They chose for themselves allotments of ground conveniently situated for fresh water, and not much burdened with timber, beginning with much spirit, and forming to themselves very sanguine hopes of success.  At the end of the month they had been so active as to have cleared several acres, and were in some forwardness with a few huts.  The natives had not given them any interruption.

These people, however, though they had not been heard of where it might have been expected they would have proved troublesome, had not been so quiet in the neighbourhood of Parramatta.  Between that settlement and Prospect Hill some settlers had been attacked by a party of armed natives and stripped of all their provisions.  Reports of this nature had been frequently brought in, and many, perhaps, might have been fabricated to answer a purpose; but there was not a doubt that these people were very desirous of possessing our clothing and provisions; and it was noticed, that as the corn ripened, they constantly drew together round the settlers farms and round the public grounds, for the purpose of committing depredations.

Several gardens were robbed and some houses broken into during this month, the certain effect of a reduced ration.  One burglary which was committed was of some magnitude, and deserving of mention.  A sergeant of the New South Wales corps having been on guard, on his return to his hut in the morning, had the mortification of finding he had been robbed during his absence of a large quantity of wearing apparel, and twenty-seven pounds in guineas and dollars; in fact the thief had stripped him of all his moveable property, except only a spare suit of regimentals.  The hut stood the first of a new row just without the town, and ought not to have been left without some person to take care of it.  The spoil, no doubt, soon passed from one hand to another in the practice of that vice which, as already mentioned, too generally prevailed among the lower class of the people in the colony.

At Parramatta some people were taken up and punished, on being detected in issuing to themselves from the stores, where they were employed, a greater proportion of provisions than the ration.  This offence had often been committed; and though it was always punished with severity, yet while convicts were employed, it was likely, notwithstanding the utmost vigilance, to continue.  Vigilance seemed only to incite to deeper contrivances; and perhaps, though discoveries of this practice had often occurred, yet too many had been guilty of it with impunity, and, being alarmed, had withdrawn in time from the danger.