Colonial Secretary's Office,
September 25th, 1830.
"1. The community being called upon to act en masse on the 7th October next, for the purpose of capturing those hostile tribes of the Natives which are daily committing renewed atrocities upon the settlers; the following outline of the arrangements which the Lieutenant-Governor has determined upon, is published, in order that every person may know the principle on which he is required to act, and the part which he is to take individually in this important transaction.
"2. Active operations will at first be chiefly directed against the tribes which occupy the country south of a line drawn from Waterloo Point east to Lake Echo west, including the Hobart, Richmond, New Norfolk, Clyde, and Oatlands Police districts,—at least, within this county the military will be mainly employed, the capture of the Oyster Bay and Big River tribes, as the most sanguinary, being of the greatest consequence.
"3. In furtherance of this measure, it is necessary that the Natives should be driven from the extremities within the settled districts of the county of Buckingham, and that they should subsequently be prevented from escaping out of them; and the following movements are therefore directed:—First, to surround the hostile native tribes; secondly, to capture them in the county of Buckingham, progressively driving them upon Tasman's Peninsula; and thirdly, to prevent their escape into the remote unsettled districts to the westward and eastward.
"4. Major Douglas will, on the 7th October, cause the following chain of posts to be occupied, viz. from the coast near St. Patrick's Head, to the source of the St Paul's River, and by that river and the South Esk, to Epping Forest and Campbell Town. This line being taken up, the parties composing it will advance in a southerly direction towards the Eastern Marshes, and will thoroughly examine the country between their first stations and the head of the Macquarie, and on the afternoon of the 12th of October they will halt with their left at a mountain on the Oyster Bay Tier, on which a large fire is to be kept burning, and their right extending towards Malony's Sugar Loaf. To effect this movement, Major Douglas will reinforce the post at Avoca, and this force, under the orders of Captain Wellman, will be strengthened by such parties as can be despatched by the Police Magistrate of Campbell Town, and by the roving parties under Mr. Batman, and will receive the most effectual co-operation from Major Gray, who will, no doubt, be warmly seconded by Messrs. Legge, Talbot, Grant, Smith, Gray, Hepburn, Kearney, Bates, and all other settlers in that neighbourhood.
