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Freotopia > people > Charles Frazer (1788-1831) also spelt Fraser (often) and Frazier
Charles Frazer
Statham:
Stirling also had two passengers [on the Success], for Governor Darling wanted skilled observers to accompany the expedition. First was the New South Wales Colonial Botanist, Charles Frazer, and second, the highly regarded landscape artist Frederick Garling. Both men boarded the Success at Point Piper on 15 January 1827.
Charles Frazer had arrived in the colony with the 46th regiment in April 1816, but his botanical talents had been quickly recognised by fellow Scot, Governor Macquarie, who made him ex-officio Colonial Botanist. In following years he had accompanied expeditions to northern New South Wales, Moreton Bay, Van Diemens Land and Norfolk Island. In 1821, when formally discharged from the army, he was officially appointed Colonial Botanist. From the new Botanic Gardens he raised numbers of useful plants for new settlements—including Melville Island.
He clearly had an extensive knowledge of the eastern Australian landscape and its capabilities, and was an obvious choice to join Stirling. (Statham-Drew 2003: 66.)
Ewers:
In March 1827 Captain James Stirling, with the Colonial Botanist from New South Wales, Charles Frazer, had explored the river and penetrated to the foothills of the Darling Ranges.
Captain Stirling wrote at the time: "The richness of the soil, the bright foliage of the shrubs, the majesty of the surrounding trees, the abrupt and red-coloured banks of the river occasionally seen, and the view of the blue summits of the mountains from which we were not far distant, made the scenery round this spot as beautiful as anything of the kind I had ever witnessed."
Mr Frazer was impressed too. He concluded his report on the Swan River district by saying: "I hesitate not in pronouncing it superior to any I have seen in New South Wales eastward of the Blue Mountains, not only in its local situation, but in the many advantages which it holds out to settlers." (Ewers: 1)
References and Links
Ewers, John K. 1971, The Western Gateway: A History of Fremantle, Fremantle City Council, with UWAP, rev. ed. [1st ed. 1948].
Hay, J.G. ed. 1906, Report of Charles Frazer, Government Botanist of New South Wales, in The Visit of Charles Frazer to the Swan River in 1827 ... J.G. Hay, Perth.
Statham-Drew, Pamela 2003, James Stirling: Admiral and Founding Governor of Western Australia, UWAP
ADB entry (no author, 1966).
This page incorporates material from Garry Gillard's Freotopia website, that he started in 2014 and the contents of which he donated to Wikimedia Australia in 2024. The content was originally created on 11 July, 2021 and hosted at freotopia.org/people/frazercharles.html (it was last updated on 5 October, 2023), and has been edited since it was imported here (see page history). The donated data is also preserved in the Internet Archive's collection.