The Darkinjung people (specifically the Wonarua tribe) originally inhabited the Pokolbin area for more than 3,000 years. They were the major inhabitants at the time of European contact. This contact was disastrous for the Darkinjung people. Many were murdered or died as a result of European diseases. Others were forced onto neighbouring tribal territory and killed. Many lost the will to live and occupied shanty ghettos on the edge of white settlements. Settler pressure on land also constricted traditional tribal and clannish domains, often leading to tribal fighting.
In 1828 the first vineyard was established by the Wilkinsons at Oakdale, in the growing Pokolbin area. In the 1860s, land settlement became extensive between Nulkaba and Pokolbin, with wheat, tobacco and grapes being the principal crops
