[2] In 1789, Governor Arthur Phillip conducted a boat expedition upstream to the branches of the Hawkesbury River, encountering the local inhabitants.
He returned overland in 1791; members of his party who were natives of the Cumberland Plain confirmed that the people there were of a distinct group that spoke a different language.
[4] By the last years of the 19th century, only a remnant, mostly half-castes, of 60 Darkinyung had survived, concentrated on a government reserve set aside for aborigines on the Hawkesbury river, 12 miles (19 km) from Windsor.
[1] The Bora Ceremony of the Darkinyung people is described in considerable detail in Matthews submission to the Royal Society of Victoria titles "The Burbung of the Darkinung Tribes".
The name has been variously spelled Darkinyung (AIATSIS), Darkinjung (Tindale), Darkiñung (Ford), Darkinung, Darkin-yûng, Darkinyoong, Darkinjang, etc.