View source for Swan River Colony

{{Short description|British colony in Western Australia (1829–1833)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2018}}
{{Use Australian English|date=May 2011}}
{{Infobox former subdivision
|common_name = Swan River Colony
|today = [[Australia]]
|year_start = {{start date|1829|06|17|df=y}}<ref name="wayb79" />{{rp|p=12}}
|year_end = {{end date|1832|02|06|df=yes}}
|s1 = History of Western Australia#Colonial era{{!}}Colony of Western Australia
}}
{{History_of Australia/Cities}}
The '''Swan River Colony''', also known as the '''Swan River Settlement''',<ref>{{cite news |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/37999809 |title=The Swan River Settlement |newspaper=The Western Mail |date=25 December 1926|page=27<!--Page number is from the image. It is incorrectly indexed by Trove as p26--> |first=Horace |last=Stirling |access-date=7 December 2019}}</ref> or just ''Swan River'', was a [[Crown colony|British colony]] established in 1829 on the [[Swan River (Western Australia)|Swan River]]. This initial settlement place on the Swan River was soon named [[Perth]], and it became the capital city of [[Western Australia]].

The name was a ''[[pars pro toto]]'' for Western Australia. In 1831, the military outpost [[Frederick Town, Colony of New South Wales|Frederick Town]] was transferred from the [[Colony of New South Wales]] to the Swan River Colony and renamed ''Albany'',<ref name="wes04" />{{rp|pp=55–115}} and on 6 February 1832, the Swan River Colony was renamed the ''[[History of Western Australia#Colonial era|Colony of Western Australia]]'',<ref>{{cite web|url=https://poi-australia.com.au/swan-river-colony-proclaimed/|title=Swan River Colony Proclaimed|date=2 May 1829|publisher=POI Australia|language=English|accessdate=13 February 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://statelibrarynsw.tumblr.com/post/156855938896/on-this-day-6th-february-1832-the-swan-river|title=On this day, 6th February 1832|publisher=State Library of New South Wales|language=English|accessdate=13 February 2021}}</ref> when the colony's founding [[Governor of Western Australia|lieutenant-governor]], Captain [[James Stirling (Australian governor)|James Stirling]], belatedly received his commission. However, the name ''Swan River Colony'' remained in informal use for many years.

==European exploration==
[[File:Vlamingh ships at the Swan River, Keulen 1796.jpg|thumb|left|''[[Willem de Vlamingh]]'s ships, with [[black swan]]s, at the entrance to the Swan River, Western Australia'', coloured engraving (1796), derived from an earlier drawing (now lost) from the de Vlamingh expeditions of 1696–97]]

The first recorded Europeans to sight land where the city of [[Perth]] is now located were [[Dutch people|Dutch]] sailors. Most likely the first visitor to the [[Swan River (Western Australia)|Swan River]] area was [[Frederick de Houtman]] on 19 July 1619, travelling on the ships {{ship||Dordrecht|1618|2}} and {{ship||Amsterdam|1618|2}}. His records indicate he first reached the Western Australian coast at [[latitude]] 32°20', which is approximately at [[Warnbro Sound]].<ref name="dot20">{{cite web |url=https://www.transport.wa.gov.au/imarine/coastaldata/nauticalcharts/pdfs/WA913_cape_peron_to_dawesville.pdf |title=Cape Peron to Dawesville |year=2016 |website=Department of Transport |publisher=Government of Western Australia |access-date=2020-02-15 }}</ref> He did not land because of heavy surf, and so proceeded northwards without much investigation.<ref name="Appleyard & Manford 1979">{{cite book |last1=Appleyard |first1=Reginald T. |last2=Manford |first2=Toby |year=1979 |title=The Beginning: European Discovery and Early Settlement of Swan River, Western Australia |publisher=University of Western Australia Press |location=Nedlands, Western Australia |isbn=0-85564-146-0 |oclc=6423026 }}</ref>

On 28 April 1656, {{ship||Vergulde Draeck||2}} en route to Batavia (now [[Jakarta]]) was shipwrecked {{cvt|107|km}} north of the Swan River near Ledge Point. Of the 193 on board, only 75 made it to shore. A small boat that survived the wreckage then sailed to Batavia for help, but a subsequent search party found none of the survivors. The wreck was rediscovered in 1963.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.abc.net.au/backyard/shipwrecks/wa/transcript_vergulde.htm|website=ABC online |title=Shipwrecks Audio Transcript : Gilt Dragins & Elephant Tusks|year=2003| access-date=14 February 2009}}</ref>

In 1658, three [[Dutch Republic]] ships, also partially searching for ''Vergulde Draeck'' visited the area. ''Waekende Boey'' under Captain S. Volckertszoon, ''Elburg'' under Captain J. Peereboom and ''Emeloort'' under Captain A. Joncke sighted [[Rottnest]] but did not proceed any closer to the mainland because of the many reefs. They then travelled north and subsequently found the wreck of ''Vergulde Draeck'' (but still no survivors). They gave an unfavourable opinion of the area partly due to the dangerous reefs.<ref name="Appleyard & Manford 1979" />

[[Image:Battye freycinet swanriver lg.jpg|thumb|right|The first detailed map of the Swan River, drawn by the French in 1801]]
The Dutch captain [[Willem de Vlamingh]] was the next European in the area. Commanding three ships, ''Geelvinck'', ''Nijptangh'' and ''Weseltje'',<ref name="pea05">{{cite Q |Q110529184 |access-date=2022-01-12 }}</ref>{{rp|p=42}} he arrived at and named Rottnest on 29 December 1696, and on 10 January 1697 visited and named the Swan River. His ships could not sail up the river because of a sand bar at its mouth, so he sent out a [[sloop]] which even then required some dragging over the sand bar. They sailed until reaching mud flats probably near [[Heirisson Island]]. They saw some [[Aboriginal Australians|Aboriginal people]] but were not able to meet any close up. Vlamingh was also not impressed with the area, and this was probably the reason for a lack of Dutch exploration from then on.<ref name="Appleyard & Manford 1979" />

In 1801, the French ships {{ship|French corvette|Géographe||2}} captained by [[Nicolas Baudin]] and {{ship|French corvette|Naturaliste||2}} captained by [[Jacques Félix Emmanuel Hamelin|Emmanuel Hamelin]] visited the area from the south. While ''Géographe'' continued northwards, ''Naturaliste'' remained for a few weeks. A small expedition dragged longboats over the sand bar and explored the Swan River. They also gave unfavourable descriptions regarding any potential settlement due to many mud flats upstream and the sand bar (the sand bar wasn't removed until the 1890s when [[C. Y. O'Connor|{{thinspace|C.|Y.}} O'Connor]] built Fremantle harbour).

Later in March 1803, ''Géographe'', with another ship ''Casuarina'', passed by Rottnest on their way eventually back to France, but did not stop longer than a day or two.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.multicultural.online.wa.gov.au/wppuser/owamc/onlinenews_3_04/page8.html|title=The Baudin Expedition of 1800–1804 |first=Kate |last=Pratt |website=Terra Australis 2001 WA Association Inc |access-date=14 February 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090116051501/http://www.multicultural.online.wa.gov.au/wppuser/owamc/onlinenews_3_04/page8.html|archive-date=16 January 2009|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.abc.net.au/navigators/captains/baudin.htm|title=The Captains: Nicholas Baudin |publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation |access-date=14 February 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090104075905/http://www.abc.net.au/navigators/captains/baudin.htm|archive-date=4 January 2009|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

The next visit to the area was the first Australian-born maritime explorer, [[Phillip Parker King]] in 1822 on ''Bathurst''. King was also the son of former Governor [[Philip Gidley King]] of [[New South Wales]]. However, King also was not impressed with the area.<ref name="Appleyard & Manford 1979" />

==Background to the settlement==
{{unreferenced section|date=April 2020}}
[[Image:Jamesstirling.jpg|right|thumb|Admiral Sir [[James Stirling (Royal Navy officer)|James Stirling]]]]
[[File:A Plan of Swan River Settlement and Surrounding Country.jpg|thumb|left|Swan River Settlement and surrounding country (1831)]]
The founding father of Western Australia was Captain [[James Stirling (Royal Navy officer)|James Stirling]] who, in 1827, explored the Swan River area in {{HMS|Success|1825|6}} which first anchored off [[Rottnest Island|Rottnest]], and later in Cockburn Sound. He was accompanied by [[Charles Fraser (botanist)|Charles Fraser]], the [[New South Wales]] botanist.

Their initial exploration began on 8 March in a cutter and gig with parties continuing on foot from 13 March. In late March, {{HMS|Success|1825|2}} moved to [[Sydney]], arriving there on 15 April. Stirling arrived back in [[England]] in July 1828, promoting in glowing terms the agricultural potential of the area. His lobbying was for the establishment of a free settlement{{snd}}unlike [[penal colony|penal colonies]] at [[New South Wales]], [[Port Arthur, Tasmania|Port Arthur]] and [[Norfolk Island]]{{snd}}in the Swan River area with himself as its governor. As a result of these reports, and a rumour in [[London]] that the [[France|French]] were about to establish a penal colony in the western part of Australia, possibly at [[Shark Bay]], the Colonial Office assented to the proposal in mid-October 1828.

In December 1828, a Secretary of State for Colonies despatch reserved land for the Crown, as well as for the clergy, and for education, and specified that water frontage was to be rationed. The most cursory exploration had preceded the British decision to found a settlement at the Swan River; the most makeshift arrangements were to govern its initial establishment and the granting of land; and the most sketchy surveys were to be made before the grants were actually occupied. A set of regulations were worked out for distributing land to settlers based on [[Land grants in the Swan River Colony|land grants]]. Negotiations for a privately run settlement were also started with a consortium of four gentlemen headed by [[Potter McQueen]], a member of Parliament who had already acquired a large tract of land in [[New South Wales]]. The consortium withdrew after the Colonial Office refused to give it preference over independent settlers in selecting land, but one member, [[Thomas Peel]], accepted the terms and proceeded alone. Peel was allocated {{convert|500,000|acres|ha|order=flip}}, conditional on his arrival at the settlement before 1 November 1829 with 400 settlers. Peel arrived after this date with only 300 settlers, but was still granted {{convert|250,000|acres|ha|order=flip}}.
{{Clear}}

==Events of the settlement==
{| class=wikitable align=right style="font-size: 85%; margin-left: 10pt;"
! bgcolor="#efefef" colspan=2|Swan River Colony<br/>ship arrivals in 1829<ref>{{cite web|url=http://membership.wags.org.au/1829-ships/78-1829-shipping-arrivals|title=WA 1829 Passenger Ship Arrivals|publisher=Western Australian Genealogical Society|date=4 December 2013|access-date=23 December 2016|archive-date=23 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161223132739/http://membership.wags.org.au/1829-ships/78-1829-shipping-arrivals|url-status=dead}}</ref>

|-
|25 April || {{HMS|Challenger|1826|6}}<br/>([[Charles Fremantle|Fremantle]])
|-
|31 May || ''[[Parmelia (barque)|Parmelia]]''<br/>([[James Stirling (Australian governor)|Stirling]])
|-
|6 June || {{HMS|Sulphur|1826|6}}
|-
|5 August ||{{ship||Calista|1825|2}}
|-
|6 August ||''Saint Leonard''
|-
|23 August ||{{ship||Marquis of Anglesea|1815 ship|2}}
|-
|19 September ||''Thompson''
|-
|21 September ||{{ship||Amity|brig|2}}
|-
|5 October ||''Georgiana''
|-
|9 October ||''Ephemina''
|-
|12 October ||''Orelia''
|-
|12 October ||{{ship||Cumberland|1827 ship|2}}
|-
|12 October ||{{ship||Caroline|1825 ship|2}}
|-
|17 October ||''Governor Phillip''
|-
|19 October ||{{ship||Atwick|1827 ship|2}}
|-
|23 October{{contradictory inline |article=Lotus (1826 ship) |section=Western Australia |reason=Did Lotus arrive on 6 October 1829, which is about 10 October as stated by Favenc (1908, p. 242). |date=October 2025}} ||{{ship||Lotus|1826 ship|2}}<br/>John Summerson
|-
|31 October ||{{ship||Admiral Gifford|ship|2}}
|-
|11 November ||''Lion (Lyon)''
|-
|14 November ||''Dragon''
|-
|28 November ||{{HMS|Success|1825|6}}
|-
|15 December ||{{ship||Gilmore|1824 ship|2}}<br/>[[Thomas Peel|(Peel)]]
|}
{{See also|Western Australia Day}}
The first ship to reach the Swan River was {{HMS|Challenger|1826|6}}. After anchoring off [[Garden Island, Western Australia|Garden Island]] on 25 April 1829 and then in [[Cockburn Sound]] on 27 April,<ref name="wayb76" />{{rp|p=541}} Captain [[Charles Fremantle]] claimed "all that part of [[New Holland (Australia)|New Holland]] which is not included within the territory of New South Wales" on 2 May for [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|Britain]].<ref name="wayb76" />{{rp|p=10}}<ref name="wayb79" />{{rp|p=11}}

{{ship||Parmelia|barque|2}} arrived in Cockburn Sound on 2 June carrying Stirling and his party,<ref name="wayb79" />{{rp|p=11}} and {{HMS|Sulphur|1826|6}} arrived on 8 June carrying members of the [[63rd Regiment of Foot|63rd Regiment]] and families. The first settlement of the Swan River Colony, named ''Sulphur Town'' after ''Sulphur'',<ref name="hc4501">{{cite web |title=Garden Island |date=2022-07-12 |website=Heritage Council, Government of Western Australia |url=https://inherit.dplh.wa.gov.au/public/inventory/printsinglerecord/77a0d852-37f1-4ac6-9a90-9dd8877bbf4d |access-date=2024-07-27 }}</ref> "comprised a party of about 250 military personnel, free colonists of the gentry class, and their indentured worker" from ''Parmelia'' and ''Sulphur'',<ref name="habu23" />{{rp|p=[https://researchonline.nd.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1090&context=sci__article#page=4 2]}} and was situated on Garden Island near Cliff Point.<ref name="habu23">{{cite journal |last1=Hamersley |first1=Trent |last2=Burke |first2=Shane |date=2023-07-17 |title=The Swan River Colony's First British Settlement: Early Results of Surveys of Garden Island (Meeandip), Western Australia |pages=1161–1184 |journal=[[International Journal of Historical Archaeology]] |volume=27 |publisher=[[Springer Nature]] |doi=10.1007/s10761-023-00704-8 |url=https://researchonline.nd.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1090&context=sci__article |access-date=2025-11-02 }}</ref>{{rp|p=[https://researchonline.nd.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1090&context=sci__article#page=5 3]}} A party from ''Parmelia'' then encamped on [[Rous Head#history|Rous Head]] on the northern side of the Swan River on 17 June, thus establishing the Swan River Colony.<ref name="wayb79" />{{rp|p=12}} Three merchant ships arrived shortly after: ''Calista'' on 5 August, ''St Leonard'' on 6 August and {{ship||Marquis of Anglesea|1815 ship|2}} on 23 August.

A series of accidents followed the arrivals which probably nearly caused the abandonment of the expedition. ''Challenger'' and ''Sulphur'' both struck rocks while entering Cockburn Sound and were fortunate to escape with only minor damage. ''Parmelia'' however, under Stirling's "over confident pilotage",{{quote without source |date=June 2024}} also ran aground, lost her rudder and damaged her keel, which necessitated extensive repairs. With winter now set in, the settlers were obliged to land on [[Garden Island, Western Australia|Garden Island]]. Bad weather and the required repairs meant that Stirling did not manage to reach the mainland until 18 June,{{citation needed |reason=The party landed on 17 June, but Stirling didn't until the next day? |date=November 2025}} and the remaining settlers on ''Parmelia'' finally arrived in early August. In early September a major disaster occurred: ''Marquis of Anglesea'' was driven ashore during a gale and wrecked beyond repair. The ship did not break up, as had been expected, but instead survived to become Western Australia's first [[prison ship|prison hulk]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Goulding |first=Dot |year=2007 |title=Recapturing Freedom: Issues Relating to the Release of Long-term Prisoners Into the Community |publisher=Hawkins Press |isbn=978-1876067182 |page=14 }}</ref>

The first reports of the new colony arrived back in [[England]] in late January 1830. They described the poor conditions and the starving state of the colonists, deemed the land totally unfit for agriculture, and reported (incorrectly) that the settlers had abandoned the colony. As a result of these reports, many people cancelled their migration plans or diverted to [[Cape Town]] in South Africa, or to the more well-established [[New South Wales]] colony.

Nevertheless, a few settlers arrived and additional stores were dispatched. By 1832 the population of the colony had reached about 1,500. Aboriginal people were not counted at that time, but in the south west have been estimated to number 15,000. The difficulty of clearing land to grow crops was so great that by 1850 the population of settlers had increased only to 5,886. This population had settled mainly around the southwestern coastline at [[Bunbury, Western Australia|Bunbury]], [[Augusta, Western Australia|Augusta]] and [[Albany, Western Australia|Albany]].

[[Edward Gibbon Wakefield]] used the Swan River Colony to illustrate the importance of combined labour and the danger of a dispersed population. In his ''Letter from Sydney'', published anonomously in 1829,<ref>{{cite Q |Q42192166 |last=Wakefield |first= Edward Gibbon |author-link=Edward Gibbon Wakefield |editor-last=Gouger |editor-first=Robert |editor-link=Robert Gouger }}</ref> and later in his ''England and America'', published in 1833, Wakefield criticised the Swan River land grants for failing to encourage the development of a necessary class of wage-labourers.

[[Karl Marx]],  in ''[[Das Kapital]]'', used Wakefield's ideas and the Swan River Colony to illustrate a point about the necessity of a dependent workforce for capitalist production and colonisation.<ref name="mar06">{{cite wikisource |chapter=Chapter 33 |wslink=Das Kapital (Moore, 1906) |plaintitle=Capital |last=Marx |first=Karl |author-link=Karl Marx |editor-first=Friedrich |editor-last=Engels |editor-link=Friedrich Engels |year=1906 |publisher=Random House |location=New York |page= |wspage= |scan=}}</ref>

==See also==
*''[[General view of the botany of the vicinity of Swan River]]'', an 1831 scientific paper by Scottish botanist [[Robert Brown (botanist, born 1773)|Robert Brown]]
*[[History of Perth, Western Australia]]
*[[History of Western Australia]]
*[[Convict era of Western Australia]]

==References==
{{Reflist |30em |refs=
<ref name="wayb76">{{cite Q |Q126683302 |title=Western Australian Year Book |year=1976 |number=15 |url=https://www.ausstats.abs.gov.au/ausstats/free.nsf/0/32E2DC58FC743F5BCA257B020012F338/$File/13005%20-WA%20YrBook%201976.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240617070106/https://www.ausstats.abs.gov.au/ausstats/free.nsf/0/32E2DC58FC743F5BCA257B020012F338/$File/13005%20-WA%20YrBook%201976.pdf |archive-date=2024-06-17 |access-date=2024-06-17 |mode=cs1}}</ref>

<ref name="wayb79">{{cite Q |Q126683302 |title=Western Australian Year Book |year=1979 |number=17 |url=https://www.ausstats.abs.gov.au/ausstats/free.nsf/0/D269F393BB0AE162CA257B020012F2FC/$File/13005%20-WA%20YrBook%201979.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240515152724/https://www.ausstats.abs.gov.au/ausstats/free.nsf/0/D269F393BB0AE162CA257B020012F2FC/$File/13005%20-WA%20YrBook%201979.pdf |archive-date=2024-05-15 |access-date=2024-06-17 |mode=cs1}}</ref>

<ref name="wes04">{{cite book |last=West |first=Dunstan Arthur Percival |title=The Settlement on the Sound – Discovery and settlement of the Albany Region 1791–1831 |publisher=Western Australian Museum |location=Perth |orig-date=1976 |year=2004 |oclc=4466596 }}</ref>
}}

==Further reading==
{{Refbegin |30em}}
* Fornasiero, Jean; Monteath, Peter and West-Sooby, John. ''Encountering Terra Australis: the Australian voyages of Nicholas Baudin and Matthew Flinders'', Kent Town, South Australia, Wakefield Press, 2004. {{ISBN|1-86254-625-8}}
* Marchant, Leslie R. ''France Australe : the French search for the Southland and subsequent explorations and plans to found a penal colony and strategic base in south western Australia 1503–1826'' Perth : Scott Four Colour Print, c1998. {{ISBN|0-9588487-1-8}}
* Marchant, Leslie R. ''French Napoleonic Placenames of the South West Coast'', Greenwood, WA. R.I.C. Publications, 2004. {{ISBN|1-74126-094-9}}
* Niendorf, Matthew J. "'A Land Not Exactly Flowing with Milk & Honey': Swan River Mania in the British Isles and Western Australia 1827–1832", Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects, 2016. 
* Straw, Leigh S.L. ''A Semblance of Scotland: Scottish Identity in Colonial Western Australia'', The Grimsay Press, 2006. {{ISBN|9781845300326}}
* Toft, Klaus ''The Navigators – Flinders vs Baudin'', Sydney, Duffy and Snellgrove, 2002. {{ISBN|1-876631-60-0}}
{{Refend}}

{{Subject bar |auto=y |d=y |s=Category:Swan River Colony |portal=Western Australia}}
{{British overseas territories}}
{{Convicts in Australia}}

[[Category:Populated places established in 1829]]
[[Category:Australian penal colonies]]
[[Category:Convictism in Western Australia]]
[[Category:1829 establishments in Australia]]
[[Category:19th century in Western Australia]]
[[Category:Colony of Western Australia]]