Talk:Henry Hacking

Awabakal murders

Can anyone point to evidence for this paragraph?

"In March 1799 Henry Hacking was ordered by Governor John Hunter to investigate claims of British sailors being trapped by Aboriginal Australians at the mouth of the Hunter River to the north of the colony. Hacking encountered a group of Awabakal people on the south side of the river, who informed him that the sailors had left earlier on foot, endeavouring to walk back to Sydney. Hacking did not believe them, and became agitated, shooting dead four Awabakal men. The sailors later arrived in Sydney, having walked the distance to return."

The reference is to David Collins's An Account of the English Colony in New South Wales (1804), page 1; however this episode does not appear on any page of this book (including page 1). — Preceding unsigned comment added by 27.32.184.112 (talk) 11:45, 10 July 2020 (UTC)

The 1799 incident is on p 204 of Collins vol 2 but the "summary" presented here bares scant resemblance to the original. The whole article seems to be written as a polemic but against what I am uncertain. In decribing both this 1799 event and the September 1789 encounter the article seems to be written so as to significantly diminish the seriousness efforts of First Nations people in attempting to defend their country against invaders with superior arms.

The remainder of the article has other unsupported or challenged claims.

e.g. "was well regarded as an enforcer by the authorities at the outpost of Sydney"

What evidence is there of this? Enforcer of what?

"Hacking shot and killed Pemulwuy"

This claim has been disputed. It appears to be highly unlikely that it was Hacking who shot Pemulwuy. 2403:5807:CA0F:0:8C9:1FA0:3EA5:6179 (talk) 21:31, 27 January 2025 (UTC)

I agree with you that this article has unsupported or challenged claims. I have been researching the life of Henry Hacking and also cannot find where some of these claims come from. Thank you for pointing me towards David Collins's account so I can read the source of the Awabakal encounter, so I can see the true account. I have found in many writings that the account of the September 1789 encounter has also been skewed to not represent what truly happened. I too question the description of Henry as "an enforcer", and have never seen this description anywhere else. Also the idea that Henry Hacking shot Pemulwuy is not supported by the sources, and is asserted by Keith Vincent Smith in his 2003 SMH article with flimsy and unsupported evidence, but this idea has spread throughout the internet and is constantly reiterated. I have researched Henry's life thoroughly and can find no evidence for this assertion. I would like to edit this biography to reflect the truth, when I feel confident to do it. ~2025-35677-90 (talk) 04:28, 24 November 2025 (UTC)