Page:History of West Australia.djvu/77

 Rh left Port Leschenault on the 16th March, and the inlet at the mouth of the Murray was cursorily scrutinised. It was characterised as similar to those at Port Leschenault, Vasse River, and Melville Water, and would "probably hereafter afford great facilities in catching and curing fish for exportation, as well as for the water carriage of commodities."

On the 6th March, 1830, therefore, a military station was established at Port Leschenault, and the first white people took up a temporary residence near Bunbury. Captain Stirling issued a Government notice on the 22nd March advising those who were entitled to grants of land to select in the southern district. He made preparations to assist settlement, and sent several persons there from Perth within a few weeks. One farmer who accompanied the first expedition expressed the conviction that "with proper industry we shall all do better there than in the country round about Perth, for the climate is cooler and certainly the land preferable, and therefore on both accounts better adapted to the growth of vegetables and corn."

A new county was now added to the colony, and in the month following the expedition the first grants were allotted at Leschenault, and an enormous area was taken up by men who made no immediate use of the land. On the 26th April, 1830, F. A. Lautour selected 103,000 acres on the estuary, where the Australind settlement was subsequently established. James Henty had 69,000 acres registered on the same date, most of which grant was situated on the south banks of the Collie, with the present Collie Agricultural area as the western boundary. W. K. Shenton was granted 9,416 acres on 26th April on the north bank of the Collie, immediately north of Henty's grant. Shenton's Elbow was within the grant. The same settler had part of his selection near Point Lautour. The Surveyor-General, John S. Roe, received a grant of 2,180 acres on 26th April, which lay on the western boundary of Mr. Shenton's selection, north of the Collie. The centre of Mr. Roe's grant lay where the Bunbury to Perth railway crosses the Collie. Messrs. John Bamber and W. G. Sams each received 4,500 acres on 26th April. Three days later, on 29th April, Thomas Padbury was assigned 1,050 acres on the east bank of Preston River, north of and adjoining the Dardanup Commonage. A few weeks later Mr. Padbury died in the arms of his son, Mr. Walter Padbury, bitterly disappointed in his hopes of a rapidly acquired fortune in Western Australia. On the 29th May William Gellibrand received 12,226 acres. Of all these grantees, in 1837 Messrs. Gellibrand, Henty, Lautour, Bamber and Sams had left the colony, Mr. Padbury was deceased, while Messrs. Roe and Shenton alone held their property. The settlement at Leschenault was one of name only for some years, for though Captain Stirling established military there and organised a party of settlers he seems to have recalled them before the end of the year. We have seen no records to tell us when this was done or why.

At about the same time the country near King George's Sound was named the Plantaganet County. On the 26th of April Dr. Alexander Collie received 5,000 acres, John L. Morley 4,000 acres, Lieutenant Wm. Preston 2,560 acres, and on 24th June Captain Thomas Bannister 5,903 acres (in fee simple) in grants, at Plantaganet.

Captain Stirling seems from the first to have thought much of the land at Geographe Bay. An old map at the Colonial Office in London shows he selected 90,000 acres at Cape Naturaliste, about 10,000 at Garden Island, and smaller holdings on the Swan. The main portion of his grant in the south lay near the beach, between Leschenault and Port Vasse, with a few smaller sections scattered in the districts. Except for his efforts at agriculture and pasturage in the Swan country, he does not seem to have used his other properties for some years. Indeed he was too busy supervising the administration, in which he was required to fill multitudinous offices, and in exploration, to devote much attention to his private affairs.

A few weeks after his return from Leschenault, and when he had assigned land in that district, the Lieutenant-Governor set out in company with Captain Currie and a band of settlers with the intention of forming still another settlement should his examination of the country on the southern main prove satisfactory.

Embarking on the Emily Taylor, the party sailed from Gage's Roads on the 29th April, rounded Cape Leeuwin, and anchored near the mouth of an inlet east of the cape. Several days were passed examining the splendid downs, and large stretches of good soil on the Blackwood River. On the 16th May Captain Stirling returned to Fremantle. During the first week of May, 1830, the site of a town—Augusta—was chosen, and private persons and military who were intended to form a settlement there were disembarked. In a Government notice of May 11, 1830, the site of Augusta was stated to possess the advantages of excellent soil, ample good water, easy access in moderate weather as well to the anchorage as to the contiguous country. The inlet upon which it was situated led to the Blackwood. This river first ran several miles north, and then east, and the light sandy loam on its banks produced excellent timber. But the finest country, the best timber, and the most luxuriant pasturage were found on the hilly lands. Skirting the coast were downs of good sheep pastures, while the rest of the land was suitable for cattle. The country seen by this expedition led Stirling to judge that there were three distinct ranges of primitive mountains traversing Western Australia from north to south. Says the report, "the highest and easternmost of these has its southern termination near to King George's Sound. The second terminates at Cape Chatham, and is that of which General Darling's Range, behind Cockburn Sound, is a portion. Cape Leeuwin is the termination of the third range. . . . On these ranges, and in their intervening valleys, the soil varies according to the position and altitude. On the higher hills and mountains the surface is rugged and stony; in the regions intermediate between their summits and their bases the soil is excellent; but in the principal valleys and lower grounds, where the sandstone formation prevails, it is of a very inferior description, except where the deposit of rivers may have altered its character."

The Swan River Colony now possessed four distinct settlements—Swan River, King George's Sound, Augusta, and Leschenault. The settlers at Augusta, as remote and isolated as imagination can portray, began their labours without flourish. The great Southern Ocean laved the shores which lay near their settlement, the blacks wandered about the Blackwood at their rear, and far away in the north were the few settlers at Leschenault, and in the east the band at King George's Sound. Three parties were left at Augusta by the Lieutenant-Governor. Captain Molloy, an officer who elected to follow the peaceful walks of agriculture and pastoral pursuits in preference to warfare, was president of these and the other chiefs were the Messrs. Bussell and Turner. No grants of land appear to have been assigned them for some time.