PERTH, WA. — The first official landing of a European on the north-western coast of Australia occurred when Dutch captain Dirk Hartog landed near Cape Inscription in 1616.
Although further Dutch sightings of Australia followed as the route became more popular and the land became known as “New Holland”, the Dutch saw no value in the dry and barren country.
Although the northwest was forbidding and inhospitable, the southwestern corner held more promise.
Dutch sea-captain Willem de Vlamingh named the Swan River in 1697 because of the black swans he saw in abundance there while exploring the area. The name remained for the early years of British settlement.
The city of Perth, capital of Western Australia, grew up around the Swan River, and was therefore originally known as the Swan River Colony, proclaimed thus in June 1829, under the command of Captain James Stirling.
The city itself started out as a free colony that year with the arrival of around 100 pioneer men, women and children on the barque Parmelia, escorted by military personnel aboard the HMS Sulphur.
The name of Perth was suggested by Sir George Murray, Secretary of State for the Colonies and War in 1829.
The settlement of the Swan River Colony/Perth was founded with the ceremonial cutting down of a she oak tree, by Mrs Helen Dance, on a site close to the present Town Hall, on August 12, 1829. Mrs Dance was the third choice for the ceremony: Captain Stirling’s wife had just had a baby while the wife of Mr John Roe, second in command, was pregnant.
Mrs Dance was the wife of the Commander of HMS Sulphur.
