The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1803 - 1842)(about) |
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Tuesday 3 November 1829
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SYDNEY GAZETTE
NEW SOUTH WALES ADVERTISER.
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 1829.
SWAN RIVER.
There have been strange reports in town for the last day or two respecting the new Settlement at Swan River, the most current of which represented that several of the vessels had stranded, none had been able to effect an anchorage, and the undertaking
had been entirely abandoned, most of the settlers having formed the resolution to pro- ceed to New South Wales. We have taken pains to trace these rumours to their source, and have obtained from the very best au-
thority the particular we proceed to detail.
The Amity, Captain Owen, left Swan River, after a stay of five days, on the 29th of September, when there were only three
vessels in the port. H. M. store-ship Sulphur, the Marquis of Anglesea, and the brig Thompson, the Calista having sailed
for Hobart Town three days before the Amity's arrival. The Thompson was dis- charging Government stores. The Marquis
of Anglesea had unfortunately been
driven from her moorings by a violent gale of wind, and had got on shore about a hundred and fifty yards to the southward of the bar at the mouth of the river ; and so serious was the damage she had sustained, that it was deemed impossible to repair her : her stores were being sold for the be- nefit of the Underwriters, and her hull was to share the same fate in a few days.
The number of settlers was estimated at three hundred and fifty or four hundred, but several vessels were daily expected from England, full of passengers, amongst which were Mr. Peel's ships, the Gilmore and the Hoogley, which had been spoken at sea, and were laden with his own peo- ple and stores. Captain Stirling and his party had been there about four or five months. The expectations of the settlers were somewhat disappointed, the quality of the soil not being near equal to what they had been led to anticipate; several exploring parties had been into various parts of the interior, but all the good land they had met with was reckoned not to exceed 3,000 acres. Two distinct settlements had been formed, one about twelve or thirteen miles up the River, which had been named Perth, and where Captain Stirling had pitched his head-quarters ; the other, close to the mouth of the River, had been called Fremantle. At Perth they were busily engaged in building dwelling-houses and stores, but at Fremantle they were all residing in canteens brought out from England. They were greatly in want of artificers. The Governor had chartered the Parmelia to fetch provisions from Batavia. There had been no arrivals from Sydney or Van Diemen's Land. No opposition or annoyance had been met with from the natives, who were on the contrary extremely civil and friendly. There appeared to be a good deal of money afloat in the settlement, and
a considerable call for live-stock.
The English had no where encountered the French, who were supposed to have formed a settlement at Shark's Bay, about four hundred miles to the northward of
Swan River.
Captain Owen received his sailing orders from Governor Stirling, but has brought neither despatches nor private letters. The Governor Phillip may be expected in about a fortnight, with Dr. Wilson, of the wrecked Governor Ready, and will most likely be the bearer of fuller communica-
tions.
Such are the particulars we have gleaned, and our readers may rely upon their authen-
ticity. They do not amount to any thing
very decisive with regard to the success of the enterprise, but it is quite certain there is no foundation whatever for the rumour that there was any intention to abandon it.
Disappointed the settlers really were, but this is the case with ninety-nine out of every hundred who emigrate, to whatever part of the globe they go ; it is rare indeed that the pictures formed by the imagination, however chastened and guarded by a sound understanding, are not mocked by the re- ality. Besides, the few months they had
spent in the country, occupied as they ne-
cessarily were with many cares and anxieties repecting the debarkation and housing of their families and stores, could not have allowed them any thing like a fair oppor-
tunity of ascertaining the general character a of the soil, and it is by no means improba- ble that a more leisurely and extensive survey would discover many valuable tracts of country in the interior, or higher up the Rivers.
By the Governor Phillip we may hope for more satisfactory accounts.