Shoalhaven colonial Aboriginal blanket lists as family history aids

New South Wales Aborigines, Official blanket distribution, circa 1890-98.

Contents

Background
Lists & events
Examples
Broughton / Toodwick
References

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1. Historical background

During the nineteenth century blankets were issued to Aboriginal people in settled areas of New South Wales, Australia. The process began as an initiative of Governor Lachlan Macquarie in 1816 and was followed through sporadically by subsequent colonial governments. Local police magistracies and court houses were responsible for allocation and distribution. It was most active in areas around Sydney during the 1820s and through to the early 1840s, from Newcastle down the coast to Broulee and west to the Burragorang Valley and Bathurst. The following discussion focuses on blankets issued in the Shoalhaven region of the South Coast of New South Wales during the early colonial period, though areas to the immediate north, south and west are also included where relevant. It should be remembered that from the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788 through to the early twentieth century records of births, deaths and marriages pertaining to the Indigenous population were not kept by the British authorities and related religious institutions. Therefore family history research is a difficult task for Indigenous communities and often reliant on oral history testimony from within families and settler employers. As such, the issuing of blankets, with associated listings of recipients, was one of the only instances where records were compiled. An example is seen in the following extract from a list compiled on the far South Coast near Broulee during the 1830s:

Blanket list (section) for Broulee, Moroyoo River.

The available blanket lists are brief and difficult to access, existing buried deep within official government archives. English spellings of Aboriginal names vary widely throughout and are immensely problematic on many levels. Nevertheless, the blanket lists are a significant and valuable resource in revealing aspects of Indigenous family history.

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2. Known listings and distribution events

The following are known dates of blanket distribution and reports for the Shoalhaven and South Coast region. They have been gathered from the present writer's publications (Organ 1990 & 1993). Those works focussed on lists from the Illawarra and Shoalhaven. Localities to the south and west were not covered as comprehensively. Not all dates have an associated detailed listing of individual recipients, but may only present summaries. The numbers in brackets relate to known blanket distributions as presented in the available reports and tabular listings as seen in the above extract from an 1830s Broulee list.

1 May 1826 - Shoalhaven (26)
3 May 1827 - Crooked River (14) and Kangaroo Ground (15)
3 July 1827 - Shoalhaven (40)
2 September 1829 - Illawarra and Shoalhaven (69)
7 May 1830 - Wollongong and Shoalhaven (150 assembled and 30 blankets issued)
8 October 1833 - Nullandarie (Browley / Broulee, Moruya, Wagunga) (25)
4 June 1834 - Shoalhaven, Gerringong, Woregy and Murroo (77) (160 in the district, and 60 received blankets)
September 1834 - Nullandarie (25) (Moruya)
25 November 1834 - Batemans Bay (23)
1835

Twofold Bay 100
Batemans Bay120
Jervis Bay 30
Ulladollah 50
Shoalhaven 170
Mrs Reiby 20

21 June 1836 - Shoalhaven (94) (Shoalhaven, Numba, Gerongong, Broughton Creek, Murroo, Jarvis's Bay, Woregy)
4 July 1836 - Erowal (75)
15 November 1836 - Bong Bong (Kangaroo Ground)
2 May 1837 - Shoalhaven (184 people received 100 blankets, with names stamped on the blanket)
7 May 1838 - Shoalhaven, Ulladulla and Jervis Bay (139)
1838 - Shoalhaven, Saint Vincent's and Jervis Bay (198)
29 May 1839 - Jervis Bay (10)
24 September 1839 - Twofold Bay (257)
16 May 1840 - Erowal, Jervis Bay (40)
25 May 1840 - Jervis Bay (14)
May 1840 - Shoalhaven (207)
26 April 1858 - Kiama (23) no list
18 April 1859 - Shoalhaven (59) no list
1860 - Shoalhaven (circa 400) no lists located
11 April 1865 - Shoalhaven (115) no list
8 April 1870 - Shoalhaven (circa 105) no lists located
12 June 1879 - Shoalhaven ( no list or number)
26 May 1882 - Kiama on the Queen's Birthday. No list located
1882 - Shoalhaven (60 Aborigines 83 Half-castes) no lists located
9 May 1888 - Shoalhaven (circa 100)

During the 1840s an annual census was taken of the Maneroo and South Coast Aboriginal people. However, blanket lists do not appear to have been produced in association with this initiative. The following summary table is taken from Records of 19th century blanket lists and returns of Aboriginal people, Museums of History New South Wales, 2025. It should be read in association with the above listing.

Shoalhaven (Berry)

REGION: South/South-eastern. COUNTY: Camden

Year	Description	Citation
1833	- 25 blankets despatched.	SLNSW LAdd81 a1893092-3
1834	- 60 blankets despatched.	NRS-906-1-[4/6666B]-4/6666B.3 No. 34/4446 [reel 3706]
1834	- 100 blankets despatched.
1836	- 100 blankets despatched.	NRS-905 [4/2302.1] No registration found on document
1837	- 100 blankets despatched.	NRS-906-1-[4/1133]-4/1133.3 No. 37/4932
1838		NRS-906-1-[4/1133]-4/1133.3 No registration found on document
1839	- 120 blankets despatched.
1840	- 120 blankets despatched.	NRS-905 [4/2479.1] No registration found on document
1842	- Return	NRS-905 [4/2576.3] No. 42/5428
1889	- Report re Aboriginal people in the Berry District	NRS-905 [5/5945] No. 89/10173

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3. Examples

The following are select examples from the lists reproduced in the following publications:

* Michael Organ, A Documentary History of the Illawarra and South Coast Aborigines 1770-1850; including a Chronological Bibliography 1770-1990, Aboriginal Education Unit, Wollongong University, December 1990, 646p. Pages 432-446 - List of people by Aboriginal name; pages 447-460 by English name.

* -----, A Documentary History of the Illawarra and South Coast Aborigines 1770-1900; including a Chronological Bibliography 1770-1990, Report for the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, Canberra, 1 December 1993, 364p.

These are available for reference online. For more in depth research it is recommended that the original documents be consulted. This is facilitated through ancestry.com and directly with the Archives Office of New South Wales.

*1 May 1826 - Jager / Shoalhaven / 26 blankets.

* 8 October 1833 - Yowgooau / Coborabull / age: 35 / 1 wife / Moorooya.

* 4 June 1834 - Toodwick / Broughton / age 36 / wives: 2 / children: 2 / Broughton's Creek

* 4 June 1834 - Tucking / Dr Wentworth / age: 21 / Numba.

* 21 June 1836 - Illawora / Mary / age: 18 / Shoalhaven.

* 4 July 1846 - Camburra / George / age: 16 / Bherewarrie.

* 25 May 1840 - Wife of Wentworth (Jervis Creek tribe) / native name: Mullundoor / age - 16.

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4. Broughton / Toodwick

It is useful to provide some context to this discussion around names, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous. The British invasion of Australia began in January 1788. They arrived with basically two names: a christian name and a surname, e.g. James Cook. These names were officially recorded, whether they be soldiers, sailors, bureaucrats, convicts or free settlers. Records of employment, birth, death, marriage and property holdings were kept and are key in recording family history for the non-Indigenous population post invasion. The same does not apply the Indigenous peoples of Australia. Names were not generally recorded or officially kept until the twentieth century. Family history research backing into the nineteenth and eighteenth centuries is therefore not generally supported by such methods. Are there any alternatives?

Yes. One rare collection of personal name records of Australian Aboriginal people is found in the aforementioned blanket lists from the 1820s and 1830s. A good example is the case of the Shoalhaven Aboriginal man known by the English name Broughton. He is quite famous, and actually has a record in the Australian Dictionary of Biography which is combined with his brother Broger, wherein Broughton is listed as born in 1798 and died in 1850. A copy of his entry is reproduced below. However, the present article is focussed on his name, or names.

It can be seen from the ADB record that he took a name from William Broughton (1768-1821), or from his daughter Elizabeth Broughton (1807-1891), the wife of Shoalhaven explorer Charles Throsby of Moss Vale (Bong Bong) resident on the Southern Highlands above the mountains to the west. Elizabeth had been rescued by Alexander Berry from a Maori massacre in New Zealand and it became the norm for Aboriginal people to take an English name associated with the people they worked for, or who had taken their land, or who they was seen as slaves of. Once this English name was taken, the original Aboriginal name or names were no longer used. It was often only as a result of the blanket lists that there was revealed an association with that Indigenous name. Broughton was just such an instance. For example, in the Return of Aboriginal Natives taken at Shoal Haven on 4th June 1834 the following was recorded:

No. / English names / Native names / Probable age / No of wives / Children (male) / Tribe

1 / Broughton / Toodwick / 36 / 2 / 2 / Broughtons Creek

This record, despite its scant appearance, provides a great deal of information about Broughton. Most importantly it tells us his native name is Toodwick. Apart from that we are informed that he is 36 years old, has two wives, two male children and is of the Broughton's Creek tribe. In other blanket lists his name is written as Toodood (1836) or Toodwit (1834) and his number of wives and children vary. The following biographical record form the Australian Dictionary of Biography refers to information gathered from these listings:

Broughton (c.1798-c.1850), Aboriginal guide, tracker and constable, and Broger (BROGHER) (c.1800-1830), Aboriginal tribesman, were close relations, probably siblings, born at Boon-ga-ree - known in 1822-88 as Broughton Creek and subsequently as Berry - in the Shoalhaven area of New South Wales. The brothers responded in different ways to the challenges posed by the influx of Europeans. Broughton, whose Aboriginal name was rendered as Toodwick, Toodood or Toodwit, accepted and strove to adapt to the new society introduced by the colonists. By 1818 he was working for Dr Charles Throsby of Liverpool, who probably named him after William Broughton. The trusted Aboriginal served as a guide and translator on several of Throsby's explorations to the south and at least once for John Oxley. In 1822 Broughton started work for Alexander Berry, whose grant incorporated Boon-ga-ree, setting up Berry's farm, Coolangatta, recruiting Aboriginal labour, keeping the peace, capturing bushrangers, droving cattle and providing his own labour. He became a favourite of Berry's, who called him 'my Landsman' and later 'my oldest surviving Black friend' and who presented him with a rectangular breastplate inscribed 'Broughton Native Constable of Shoalhaven. 1822'.

Broger was less accepting of European ways and values, though he could speak English. To Broughton's distress, he refused to undertake regular labour for Berry, preferring instead the company of his wife and at least three children in the forest at Boon-ga-ree. On 6 February 1829, with his Aboriginal friend George Murphy (probably a close relative), he took two sawyers, John Rivett and James Hicks, into the bush in Kangaroo Valley to show them some fine cedar. Here, Broger killed Rivett. Broughton, because of his reputation as a skilled tracker, was recruited to hunt down his brother but led the search party on a wild goose chase. Captured in May, when taken on board ship, Broger stole the keys to his irons from a sleeping guard, jumped overboard and fled. Recaptured in October 1829, he was committed for trial by magistrates Berry and Charles Windeyer.

It emerged that Broger, Murphy, Rivett and Hicks knew each other. Sawyers of the district, Rivett in particular, had a bad reputation for their dealings with Aborigines. A few days before his death, Rivett had cheated Broger and Murphy in an exchange of flour for bush turkey eggs. Further, it was rumoured that Rivett had seduced Murphy's wife. If this were true, then Broger may have been obliged to assist Murphy in securing redress under Aboriginal law. Perhaps, too, Broger resented the effects being wrought by sawyers on the stands of timber in the area, for he was known to refer possessively to Boon-ga-ree as 'his own place'. At his trial at Campbelltown on 20 August 1830 before Chief Justice (Sir) Francis Forbes, witnesses noted his claims that Rivett had attacked him first and he had acted in self-defence. However, he was not allowed to speak in his own defence. He was found guilty and sentenced to death. On 30 August Broger was publicly executed by Alexander Green.

As his knowledge and skills lost their value, Broughton was gradually forced to the margin of European society in the Shoalhaven. His problems within his own society multiplied. He was mocked by his relatives for his devotion to a foreign work ethic, which made him appear to them like a convict worker. Broughton had three wives in all. The first two were Mary, from Kangaroo Valley, and Charlotte. Both were unfaithful to him, and Charlotte died from a beating he gave her. He later took another wife. At least two of the four children of his wives were part-European. An 8-year-old daughter was raped by convicts. His earlier devotion to Berry had earned him an entitlement to regular rations from the Coolangatta store, but records show that he claimed them less frequently over time, indicating perhaps that he spent more time with his family and friends in the bush. He died about 1850.

The names of the brothers survive in several physical features and localities in the Shoalhaven. Brogers Creek is named after the one. After the other there is Broughton Creek, Broughton's Head, Broughton Vale, Broughton Village, and Broughton Mill Creek. A sketch of Broughton (called Broton), by Jacques Arago, the artist with the French scientific expedition, in 1819, shows a thoughtful, even intense, young man with a lightly whiskered face and medium length hair in free-flowing curls.

Jacques Arago, Broten, Nlle. Hollander, 1819, charcoal on paper, 6 x 8.5 cm. Signed J.A. l.r. Collection: State Library of New South Wales.

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5. References

Blanket Lists, Archive, State Library of New South Wales, 6 June 2011.

Campbell, Keith, Broughton (1798–1850), Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, Canberra, accessed 18 September 2025.

Organ, Michael, A Documentary History of the Illawarra and South Coast Aborigines 1770-1850; including a Chronological Bibliography 1770-1990, Aboriginal Education Unit, Wollongong University, December 1990, 646p. [Book]

-----, A Documentary History of the Illawarra and South Coast Aborigines 1770-1900; including a Chronological Bibliography 1770-1990, Report for the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, Canberra, 1 December 1993, 364p. [Report]

Records of 19th century blanket lists and returns of Aboriginal people, Museums of History New South Wales, 2025.

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Last updated: 18 September 2025

Michael Organ, Australia

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