A surprise attack by mounted police attack on a Kamilaroi camp organised by the colonial government killing at least 40 people. Part of the Waterloo Creek massacre.[7]
11 April - 20 Aboriginal Australians attacked 18 European settlers, killing 8 of them in the Battle of Broken River, also known as the Faithfull Massacre, sometimes spelt Faithful Massacre. Reprisals against the Aboriginal people continued for many years afterwards, killing up to 100 people.
23 April 1838 - The arrival of the first German vinedressers in Australia. The barque Kinnear arrived at Sydney carrying six German vinedresser families who were one of the first group of foreign immigrants brought to Australia under the newly formed Bounty Scheme. They were Caspar Flick, Georg Gerhard, Johann Justus, Friedrich Seckold, Johann Stein, and Johann Wenz. They brought with them the first Riesling grape cuttings to Australia and worked in the vineyards belonging to John Macarthur's son William Macarthur at Camden Park. Major Edward Macarthur recruited these six families from the Rheingau region of Hesse in October 1837.
24 May - David Jones opens its first store on the corner of George and Barrack Streets in Sydney
June - 8 to 23 Djadjawurrung Aboriginal people were killed in a reprisal raid for the killing of two convict servants and theft of sheep in the Waterloo Plains massacre.
^McCulloch, Samuel Clyde. "Gipps, Sir George (1791–1847)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
^"Hindmarsh, Sir John (1785–1860)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
^Crowley, F. K. "Stirling, Sir James (1791–1865)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. Retrieved 8 March 2019.