BRIEF OVERALL HISTORY of the area:
The King River itself was named in 1829, after Captain Philip Parker King, RN, of the “Mermaid”, who visited in January 1818 whilst making a coastal hydro-graphic survey.
Lower King was the first named settlement in the area, being approx 15 kms east of Albany.
We know that the area on the lower reaches of the King River was settled as early as the 1830s, and then increasingly populated - mainly by farmers and those providing supplies for the main settlement, initially known as Frederick(s) Town.
However, Lower King was only gazetted as a townsite in 1959, at which time it had a petrol station, limited houses on the Esplanade and Lower King Road, and a golf course.
Bayonet Head, gazetted in 1981, was developed in the 1980s, from subdivision of a farming property - Flinders Park.
Oyster Harbour is currently being developed, and will eventually fill the land area dividing Lower King from Bayonet Head.
Settlement:
With the arrival of the brig Amity on Christmas Day 1826, Albany became the first European settlement in Western Australia.
The Amity carried Major Edmund Lockyer, commanding a mixed bunch of 23 convicts, 18 soldiers, a surgeon and a storekeeper.
To supplement the stores, a farm was begun nearby, and a garden was established on Green Island, in Oyster Harbour.
The new settlement was originally intended to be a military outpost of New South Wales, to forestall French ambitions in the region.
It was initially named 'Frederick(s) Town' in honour of King George III's second son, 'The Grand Old Duke Of York' - Prince Frederick Augustus, Duke of York and Albany.
Major Lockyer left for Sydney on 3 April, 1827 to report upon the settlement, handing over command to Captain Joseph Wakefield.
In 1831, control of the settlement was transferred to the Swan River Colony in Perth, and Governor James Stirling renamed it Albany.
There are several excellent books on Albany, starting with Isaac Scott Nind, who was the ships surgeon, in Albany from 1826 to 1830.
Written in 1831, his detailed and informative record, “Description of the Natives of King George's Sound”, reported that this area:
“was discovered by Captain Vancouver, in the year 1792: was subsequently visited by Captain Flinders and the French expedition of discovery under Commodore Baudin; more recently by Captain King; and since that period has been frequently resorted to by sealing vessels, for the neighbouring coast to the eastward is fringed with a multitude of rocks and islands, upon which many seals of the black furred species have been found.”
Nind reported that the earlier European explorers had discovered native fish traps throughout the region - Oyster Harbour, Emu Point, and on the King and Kalgan Rivers - along with various tools, and a deserted village of rough bark huts.
However, the sealers aggressive actions had turned the initially friendly local tribes hostile.
During his description of the local Noongar tribes, the Menang people, Nind states that:
“The inhabitants of the Sound and its immediate vicinity are called Meananger, probably derived from mearn, the red root…and anger, to eat. It is in this district that the mearn is the most abundantly found…”
Nind also describes the Lower King area for the first time in print:
“…there are two inner basins or harbours which are perfectly land locked, and offering every security for ships. The northern one, Oyster Harbour, is fronted by a bar of sand, on which there is not more than thirteen feet and a half at high water; and within it is so full of shoals - excepting at the entrance, and near Green Island, where small vessels may ride securely at their anchors or be moored to the shore - that there is scarcely water enough for a boat to approach the beach; the greater part being a bank that dries, or nearly so, at low water, excepting in the drains of two small rivers that fall in to the head of the harbour, which are navigable for a few miles by small boats.”
Though use of the land by the indigenous inhabitants had been well documented, here - as in the rest of Australia - the principle of 'Terra Nullius' was applied on settlement. This dismissed the Menang peoples rights to their traditional land, and granted the Crown full possession. The Governor then organised subdivision into Town and Settlement 'Lots' on behalf of the Crown, with incoming settlers encouraged to buy and develop their own 'Selection'.
The King River itself was named in 1829, after Captain Philip Parker King, RN, of the “Mermaid”, who visited in January 1818 whilst making a coastal hydro-graphic survey.
Lower King was the first named settlement in the area, being approx 15 kms east of Albany.
We know that the area on the lower reaches of the King River was settled as early as the 1830s, and then increasingly populated - mainly by farmers and those providing supplies for the main settlement, initially known as Frederick(s) Town.
However, Lower King was only gazetted as a townsite in 1959, at which time it had a petrol station, limited houses on the Esplanade and Lower King Road, and a golf course.
Bayonet Head, gazetted in 1981, was developed in the 1980s, from subdivision of a farming property - Flinders Park.
Oyster Harbour is currently being developed, and will eventually fill the land area dividing Lower King from Bayonet Head.
Settlement:
With the arrival of the brig Amity on Christmas Day 1826, Albany became the first European settlement in Western Australia.
The Amity carried Major Edmund Lockyer, commanding a mixed bunch of 23 convicts, 18 soldiers, a surgeon and a storekeeper.
To supplement the stores, a farm was begun nearby, and a garden was established on Green Island, in Oyster Harbour.
The new settlement was originally intended to be a military outpost of New South Wales, to forestall French ambitions in the region.
It was initially named 'Frederick(s) Town' in honour of King George III's second son, 'The Grand Old Duke Of York' - Prince Frederick Augustus, Duke of York and Albany.
Major Lockyer left for Sydney on 3 April, 1827 to report upon the settlement, handing over command to Captain Joseph Wakefield.
In 1831, control of the settlement was transferred to the Swan River Colony in Perth, and Governor James Stirling renamed it Albany.
There are several excellent books on Albany, starting with Isaac Scott Nind, who was the ships surgeon, in Albany from 1826 to 1830.
Written in 1831, his detailed and informative record, “Description of the Natives of King George's Sound”, reported that this area:
“was discovered by Captain Vancouver, in the year 1792: was subsequently visited by Captain Flinders and the French expedition of discovery under Commodore Baudin; more recently by Captain King; and since that period has been frequently resorted to by sealing vessels, for the neighbouring coast to the eastward is fringed with a multitude of rocks and islands, upon which many seals of the black furred species have been found.”
Nind reported that the earlier European explorers had discovered native fish traps throughout the region - Oyster Harbour, Emu Point, and on the King and Kalgan Rivers - along with various tools, and a deserted village of rough bark huts.
However, the sealers aggressive actions had turned the initially friendly local tribes hostile.
During his description of the local Noongar tribes, the Menang people, Nind states that:
“The inhabitants of the Sound and its immediate vicinity are called Meananger, probably derived from mearn, the red root…and anger, to eat. It is in this district that the mearn is the most abundantly found…”
Nind also describes the Lower King area for the first time in print:
“…there are two inner basins or harbours which are perfectly land locked, and offering every security for ships. The northern one, Oyster Harbour, is fronted by a bar of sand, on which there is not more than thirteen feet and a half at high water; and within it is so full of shoals - excepting at the entrance, and near Green Island, where small vessels may ride securely at their anchors or be moored to the shore - that there is scarcely water enough for a boat to approach the beach; the greater part being a bank that dries, or nearly so, at low water, excepting in the drains of two small rivers that fall in to the head of the harbour, which are navigable for a few miles by small boats.”
- The “small rivers” are the King River, and the Kalgan (first called French) River.
- Green Island was initially used to successfully grow vegetables for the small colony.
Though use of the land by the indigenous inhabitants had been well documented, here - as in the rest of Australia - the principle of 'Terra Nullius' was applied on settlement. This dismissed the Menang peoples rights to their traditional land, and granted the Crown full possession. The Governor then organised subdivision into Town and Settlement 'Lots' on behalf of the Crown, with incoming settlers encouraged to buy and develop their own 'Selection'.
- Nothing is recorded about the feelings of the Menang on their dispossession.
Gold: By the1890s the gold-rushes in the eastern states were over, but the dream was taken up in W.A.
In the late 1880s, alluvial gold was being found across W.A, though only in small amounts. But the discovery of large deposits of gold in Coolgardie in 1892, and Kalgoorlie in 1893, brought great wealth to Western Australia - and gold-diggers from the eastern colonies. Over 4,500 miners arrived at Albany Port in 1892, and Albany became the gateway to W.A’s Eastern Goldfields.
Completed in 1890, by 1898 there was a well-established passenger train service from Albany to Perth, with a changeover at Northam for the Goldfields line. Unfortunately, this service was later closed down.
Port: For many years, Albany was the WA colony's only deep-water port, and vital to shipping services with Britain - also being the first port of call for the mail from England. However, the opening of other W.A. ports - Bunbury, and Fremantle Inner Harbour in 1900 - saw Albany's importance as primary port decline; though it remained an important shipping, refueling and transit facility.
The construction was extended in 1874 and fitted with a T-shaped head and gas lighting. Dredging and land reclamation around the port area commenced in 1893, with a further five dredging operations taking place between 1901 and 1979.
Albany was an important arrival point for migrants and settlers in Western Australia, over 40,000 people arrived between 1839-1925.
Industries: Albany turned primarily to agriculture - mainly fruit and meat, with a good trade shipping produce to Perth and England - and also timber, fishing, and whaling. Lower King was well-placed to service these industries.
Tourism: Albany soon began to promote itself as a tourist destination. In line with this, Marine Drive was completed in 1898, and Lower King area became an important part of the plan.
In the late 1880s, alluvial gold was being found across W.A, though only in small amounts. But the discovery of large deposits of gold in Coolgardie in 1892, and Kalgoorlie in 1893, brought great wealth to Western Australia - and gold-diggers from the eastern colonies. Over 4,500 miners arrived at Albany Port in 1892, and Albany became the gateway to W.A’s Eastern Goldfields.
Completed in 1890, by 1898 there was a well-established passenger train service from Albany to Perth, with a changeover at Northam for the Goldfields line. Unfortunately, this service was later closed down.
Port: For many years, Albany was the WA colony's only deep-water port, and vital to shipping services with Britain - also being the first port of call for the mail from England. However, the opening of other W.A. ports - Bunbury, and Fremantle Inner Harbour in 1900 - saw Albany's importance as primary port decline; though it remained an important shipping, refueling and transit facility.
- At least as late as 1899, convict labour from Hulks in the harbour was used to run Albany port.
The construction was extended in 1874 and fitted with a T-shaped head and gas lighting. Dredging and land reclamation around the port area commenced in 1893, with a further five dredging operations taking place between 1901 and 1979.
Albany was an important arrival point for migrants and settlers in Western Australia, over 40,000 people arrived between 1839-1925.
Industries: Albany turned primarily to agriculture - mainly fruit and meat, with a good trade shipping produce to Perth and England - and also timber, fishing, and whaling. Lower King was well-placed to service these industries.
Tourism: Albany soon began to promote itself as a tourist destination. In line with this, Marine Drive was completed in 1898, and Lower King area became an important part of the plan.