It seems the game-keeper went out with three others, one of whom was a serjeant; and in the heat of the day, they retired to a hut which they had made with boughs, and went to sleep.  One of them waking, and hearing a noise in the bushes, supposed it to be some animal; but on their coming out of the hut, four natives jumped up from amongst the bushes and ran away:  the game-keeper, supposing one of them to be a man who had been at Sydney, as he appeared to have been shaved and his hair cut, followed them without his gun, (though the most positive orders had been given for no one ever to join the natives unarmed) calling on them to stop, and he would give them some bread; and observing that one of those who followed him from the hut had a gun in his hand, he bid him lay it down, saying, that the natives would not hurt him.

The game-keeper had now advanced forty or fifty yards before his companions, and was not more than ten yards from one of the natives, who stopped; and getting on a tree which had been burnt down, and was lying on the ground, he surveyed those who approached him:  in a moment he found they were unarmed, so, fixing his spear, he threw it at the man who was nearest to him:  the spear entered on the left side, and penetrated the lower lobe of the lungs:  it was barbed, and consequently could not be extracted till a suppuration took place.  Immediately after throwing the spear, the native fled, and was soon out of sight of the man who followed him.

As they were eleven miles from Sydney when this accident happened, it was not without some difficulty that the unfortunate game-keeper could be brought in after his strength failed him:  he was of the catholic persuasion, but on being brought to the hospital, he desired to have the clergyman sent for, to whom he confessed that he had been a bad man, and desired his prayers; but, at the same time, he declared that he had never killed or wounded any native, except once; when, having had a spear thrown at him, he discharged his piece, which was loaded with small shot, and possibly wounded the man who threw the spear.

This declaration, made at the time he requested the surgeon not to attempt taking out the spear, until he had asked pardon of his God, whom, he said, he had often offended, added to the testimony of those who were with him, left no room to doubt that the native had taken the advantage of their being unarmed, without having received any kind of provocation.

The natives had been frequently told, that numbers of them would be killed if they continued to throw spears; and both Bannelong and the girl who lived with the clergyman had repeatedly said, that the tribes which resided about Botany-Bay and the inland parts near the head of that harbour, always killed the white men; yet, as it was evident that they had generally received some provocation on the part of our settlers, Governor Phillip was unwilling to proceed to extremities whilst there was a possibility of avoiding it:  many of the natives had recently visited the settlement; they had all been well received, and some of their children frequently remained there for several days, without their parents ever seeing them; and if any of them were going where their children would be an incumbrance, they used to leave them at Sydney.