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Stirling
finally set sail from England on the 13th February 1829, with a contingent of
free settlers and a military attachment. The expedition comprised
of three ships. These being the Parmelia, and the military
escorts, Challenger and Sulphur. The Parmelia
dropped anchor off the coast on the 31st May 1829, after a 112 day
journey. The Sulphur tracked the Parmelia for most of the
voyage, however lost contact in the last two weeks, and arrived later on the
8th June 1829. The Challenger did it's own thing and
beat them all there, arriving on April 25th. These guys had to then wait for the
others to turn up. To kill the boredom, the Challenger's Captain, Charles Fremantle, decided to run up
the Union Jack, and take formal possession of the region on May 2nd.
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Not So Happy Landings:
To be honest the landing of the first settlers was not that well
executed. Stirling was a well meaning kind of guy, though
from a historical perspective he blew it. Once the
Sulphur had arrived on June 8th, everything was
finally ready to land the settlers. They had been waiting onboard the
Parmelia. Stirling promptly took over as the
landing pilot of the Parmelia, for he had
previously chartered the region, and the moment was going to be his.
Everything going just peachy, until Stirling delivered the Parmelia
directly onto a reef. Most of the women were quickly
transferred to the Challenger, and the remaining settlers
to nearby Carnac Island. It was there they spent a lousy
four days, with only one mug and knife between them.
After 18 hours, and through the good fortune of a high tide, the
damaged Parmelia floated off the reef. The settlers
were later offloaded onto Garden Island where they established a makeshift camp, and lived a basic
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basic existence for the
next three months. Captain Fremantle was disgusted by
the shoddy seamanship, and frustrated by the exile on
Garden Island. |
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Finally in a sudden moment of inspiration, Stirling rounded up
all the settlers. They were then literally dumped on
Bathers Beach, near the mouth of the Swan River. It
was a wet miserable day, and in the rush they had to leave their
tents behind on Garden Island. With no cover, except for a
couple of light umbrellas, they stood soaking in the pouring
rain. They wandered around their unloaded furniture like
zombies. The unfortunate ladies were also weighed down by
their impractical, and now waterlogged skirts. This was not a
particularly great start for the first
settlers! |
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They
quickly recovered. The next really big moment occurred
on the 12th August 1829, when Mrs Helen Dance drove an axe into a tree
to found the colony of Perth. To find out more about this grand
moment, and how Perth got it's name, read our article, "What's In A Name?".
Stirling decided on a location 16km from the mouth of the Swan River,
overlooked by the picturesque Mount Eliza. After the foundation
party had finished, and everybody had woken up the next day, the reality
again hit home. They were terribly isolated and the fertile plain
promised by Stirling was beach sand. Things started to quickly
slide down hill. Stirling stressed that the location still did
look good, and that Mount Eliza offered a strategic edge over the French
should they decide to invade. The settlers didn't buy it.
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