From Parramatta to Liverpool: The entwined lives of colonial and Aboriginal families, 1800 to 1835 talk by Dr Naomi Parry Duncan

Dr Naomi Parry Duncan has spent decades studying the intersections of colonial and First Nations lives. This talk is about First Nations and colonial people who moved between Parramatta and the Liverpool area during the formation of the township, and their relationships. The Macarthur family sheltered the resistance fighter Tedbury; Aboriginal guide Goggey told disturbing tales to white people as he guided them into the woods; Duall travelled with Hamilton Hume, was outlawed, exiled, then brought home by Dr Charles Throsby; while the Dharug matriarch Maria Lock used her Native Institution education to claim land in Liverpool with her convict husband. All these stories complicate the narrative about the foundation of Liverpool and provide a fresh take on First Nations survival in the region.

Dr Naomi Parry Duncan is the president of the History Council of NSW, a professional historian and sometime academic, who has written for the Australian Dictionary of Biography, Dictionary of Sydney and the Find & Connect web resource.  She has also produced New South Wales and the Great War for the Centenary of Anzac. Her research focuses on the interconnected lives of First Nations people and more recent arrivals. Her book,  Musquito: The True Story of a Colonial Warrior will be released in July 2026, and explores the life of a fascinating man and the role her ancestors played in his life.