Battle of Fairy Meadow 1830

Between the Illawarra and Bong Bong Tribes When interviewed by Archibald Campbell in 1897, Martin Lynch - who had arrived in the Illawarra in 1827 - described the Battle of Fairy Meadow - a tribal encounter which took place around 1830 between the Illawarra and Bong Bong Aborigines. The location was Fairy Meadow, just north of Wollongong. Lynch also included an account in a later letter to Mr Campbell. Both accounts are reproduced below - the first as recorded by Campbell in the original 1897 meeting with Lynch, and the second from the letter written by Lynch in 1898. These are the only extant records of the conflict. Joseph Lycett, Contest with spears, shields and clubs , c.1820, watercolour, National Library of Australia. ----------------------- Martin Lynch's Reminiscences 1897 Mr [Martin] Lynch in his early boyhood - about 1830 - witnessed a battle at Fairy Meadow, between the Illawarra blacks and the Bong Bong blacks, over something in the lady line. The battle to