These are the minutes of the Executive Council Meeting on 7 July 1838. They include a record of the Governor notifying the Executive Council of the deaths of Aboriginal people at Myall Creek, and a letter from the Secretary of State for the Colonies appointing a Mr Robinson as Chief Protector of the Aborigines.

Executive Council, Minute 38/33 dated 7 July 1838

As the colony continued to expand, Britain instructed NSW Governors that the law should protect Aboriginal people. This often did not happen. The prosecution and execution of the seven men responsible for the Myall Creek massacre was an exception, and happened partly because some white colonists were prepared to give...