The latter half of 1830 saw an increase in frontier violence as the Black War reached its nadir. During the spring of 1830 an Aboriginal party was noted to have crossed the Midlands from the 'Westward' to the Ben Lomond frontier and, within a fortnight, John Batman reported in a dispatch that a marauding party of clansmen were raiding up the South Esk Valley. The raiding party attacked several remote settler and stockman's huts from Oyster Bay to Avoca - alongside their traditional hunting and travelling route on the Ben Lomond frontier. Their aim appeared to be both robbery and revenge and during their raids they killed 5 assigned men and wounded several others severely, reportedly only being prevented from killing an entire family by the presence of soldiers.