[1] The history of the Blacktown Native Institution is closely tied to the events of the early colonial period in New South Wales.

The outcomes of early cross-cultural engagement were shaped by a range of official and religious interests and so the establishment of the Blacktown Native Institution should be understood in the context of this period and the contemporary European racial attitudes and policies of that time.

[1] When Macquarie took up the position of Governor in 1809 he was instructed to "conciliate the affection of the Aborigines and to prescribe that British subjects live in amity and kindness with them".

The colonial head of the Church of England, Samuel Marsden, had also been advised by the London Missionary Society in 1810, that he should "contribute to the Civilisation of the Heathen and thus prepare them for the reception of moral and religious instruction".

Farmers were competing directly with the Indigenous inhabitants, prompting violence and armed resistance, which only diminished with the death of Koori leader Pemulwuy in 1802.

The arrival of drought in 1814 exacerbated the conflict, and in April 1816 Macquarie ordered military expeditions into Gandangarra land along the Nepean River.

[1] Macquarie obtained a house in Parramatta, established Shelley as a manager, and on 10 December 1814 gazetted the rules and regulations for the Native Institution.

The Parramatta Institution opened on 18 January 1815 taking four pupils initially, but that figure grew after another four children were captured during a punitive expedition between May and June 1816.

[1] During this early period of establishment, the Blacktown Institution housed up to 14 pupils with only a few sheds and a small timber hut in which the Clarkes lived.

The students dug gardens and planted flowers and on Sundays Clarke acted as chaplain for the settlement and local convict labourers.

Brisbane placed the institution under the control of his Methodist protegee William Walker who retained all the female students while the boys were transferred to Robert Cartwright at Liverpool.

In May 1825, Archdeacon Thomas Hobbes Scott announced that he had received instruction to re-open the Blacktown institution and in June he proposed that the schoolhouse be repaired and that in the meantime Frederick Wilkinson take up residence as manager of a private boarding house for European children.

This proposal, including repairs to the house, was carried out during 1826 and in January 1827 Wilkinson, along with his family and a number of boarders, removed to Parramatta, having been in residence for one year.

[1] In October 1826 Hall received six girls from the Female Orphan Institution, adding to the three Maori children who were already acting as servants to his family.

Between December 1826 and January 1827 Hall also received boys from Cartwright's Male Orphan Institution, including Billy, probably the son of Nurragingy.

Cartwright resigned from the Male Orphan School and took charge of ten "Native" children in April for the sum of 250 pounds per annum.

Hall subsequently purchased Cartwright's 500 acres at the Black Town in April 1829 and constructed a cottage where his family ran a small boarding school.

On 2 November 1833 the assistant-surveyor Felton Matthews surveyed the site of the 'Crown Reserve and Schoolhouse at Blacktown'; his sketch marks the location of the house, kitchens, stable, gardens and creek, still known at that time as "Gidley Chain of Ponds".

While surrounding areas have been transformed through extensive residential development, the original 30-acre site has remained largely vacant until the present day.

[1] In October 2018, a ceremony was held to formalise Landcom's hand over of ownership of the site to the Dharug people, the traditional owners of the land.

[1] The site of the Blacktown Native Institution is today a largely vacant lot of land bounded by the residential subdivision of Hassall Grove to the west/southwest and arterial roads to the east and south.

The site also has the potential to contain archaeological evidence relating to later phases of land use, including the period the property was owned by Sydney Burdekin.

For Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people the Blacktown Native Institution is an important landmark in the history of black and white relations in Australia.

Marsden, a prominent figure in the early the colony, was appointed chairman of the Native Institution Committee by Governor Brisbane in December 1821.

William Walker protege of Governor Brisbane, and the first missionary to be instructed specifically to minister to the indigenous people of New South Wales, was appointed as manager of the institute in 1824.

[1] The site of the Blacktown Native Institute is associated with the prominent and influential late nineteenth-century figure Sydney Burdekin, who purchased the property in 1877 for use as his country residence.

The Blacktown Native Institute for the Aboriginal community is a key site symbolising dispossession, child removal and enduring links to the land.

For some members of the Aboriginal community it represents a landmark in Aboriginal-European relations, symbolising the continuing need for reconciliation and understanding between blacks and whites.

The site also has the potential to contain archaeological evidence relating to later phases of land use, including the period the property was owned by Sydney Burdekin.