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James Stirling

James Stirling, 1791-1865, was the first Governor of Western Australia. He arrived at Fremantle 2 June 1829 with Surveyor-General Roe and the first contingent of 68 settlers in the transport Parmelia, which ran aground on Parmelia Bank. He was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of the colony in 1828, and Governor and Commander-in-Chief in 1831, remaining until 1838.

He was given command of the Success in 1826, aged 34, and sailed to New South Wales, arriving in late November. There, he discussed with Governor Darling the possibility of exploring the western side of the continent, with a view to setting-up a military base there. Darling agreed, and Stirling arrived at the Swan River in March 1827.

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. (Ewers, p. 1)

He returned to Sydney with his report in April. He became ill, and returned to England, where he continued to try to persuade the Colonial Office to establish a colony in that part of the country he unsuccessfully proposed to call Hesperia. The decision so to proceed was made at the end of 1828, and the Parmelia left Portsmouth 8 February 1829, accompanied by Captain Irwin of the military ship Sulphur. At the Cape of Good Hope at the end of April, Stirling managed to persuade doctor William Milligan and engineer Henry Reveley to join his expedition.

By the time Stirling sighted the coast 31 May, Charles Fremantle had established a redoubt at the river mouth, having arrived in the Challenger 27 April and 'claimed' the territory for the Crown 2 May.

Bunbury:
... this wretched Colony, which certainly has nothing to recommend it to emigrants. I think the truth regarding it is now tolerably well known in England, in spite of the repeated puffs and exaggerated reports concerning it made by interested persons, especially Sir James Stirling, who I think has done the Colony a vast deal of harm in many respects, more particularly by representing it to be in such a flourishing state as to induce the Home Government to put the same price on the land as in the older and penal Colonies. No emigrants now come out here, but disappointed settlers, tradesmen and labourers leave it by every vessel and more would do the same did not their heavy debts and want of money compel them to remain. (Henry Bunbury [1836]: 29)

References and Links

Cygnet [Cyril Bryan], 'Governor Stirling, Centenary of Resignation', West Australian, 9 October 1937: 9.

Bunbury, W. St Pierre Bunbury & W.P. Morrell eds 1930, Early Days in Western Australia: Being the Letters and Journal of Lieut. H.W. Bunbury 21st Fusiliers, OUP, London. Text version here.

Ewers, John K. 1971, The Western Gateway: A History of Fremantle, Fremantle City Council, with UWAP, rev. ed. [1st ed. 1948].

Statham-Drew, Pamela 2003, James Stirling: Admiral and Founding Governor of Western Australia, UWAP.

Statham-Drew, Pamela 2004, James Stirling and the Birth of the Swan River Colony, Pandorus, Swanbourne.

Uren, Malcolm 1948, Land Looking West : The Story of Governor James Stirling in Western Australia, OUP, London.

Whiteley, E.S. 1967, 'H.M.S. Sulphur', Early Days, vol. 6, part 6: 45-55.

Wikipedia page

Freotopia

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 26 June, 2015 and hosted at freotopia.org/people/stirling.html (it was last updated on 9 August, 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.