page_title: James Stirling (Royal Navy officer)
section_title: Swan River exploration
hierarchical_section_title: James Stirling (Royal Navy officer) / Australia / Swan River exploration
caption_attribution_description: English: West coast of Australia, by Swan River, for use in James Stirling article
context_page_description: Admiral Sir James Stirling was a British naval officer and colonial administrator. His enthusiasm and persistence persuaded the British Government to establish the Swan River Colony and he became the first Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Western Australia. In 1854, when Commander-in-Chief, East Indies and China Station, Stirling on his own initiative signed Britain's first Anglo-Japanese Friendship Treaty. Throughout his career Stirling showed considerable diplomatic skill and was selected for a number of sensitive missions. Paradoxically, this was not reflected in his personal dealings with officialdom and his hopes for preferment received many rebuffs. Stirling also personally led the attack in Western Australia on a group of approximately seventy Bindjareb men, women and children now known as the Pinjarra massacre, afterwards threatening to "kill 80% of the [broader] Noongar population of the South West” should they continue to resist.
  Stirling entered the Royal Navy at age 12 and as a midshipman saw action in the Napoleonic Wars.
context_section_description: The Success arrived off the west coast of Australia on 5 March 1827 and anchored near the north east corner of Rottnest Island.  The following day, the ship moved cautiously towards the coast and anchored about a mile from the mouth of the Swan.  Lieutenant Carnac and the ship's Master, Millroy, were left to take soundings and look for channels and possible landing places.  Meanwhile, Stirling, Frazer and Lieutenant Preston made a preliminary reconnaissance up the river in the gig.  They sailed about five miles upstream, reaching a wide section which Stirling named Melville Water.  Other features were named after Stirling's brother Walter and Lieutenant Preston.  During the next day more soundings were taken, and Isle Berthelot and Isle Bauche were renamed Carnac Island and Garden Island.  Stirling gave the name Cockburn Sound to the "Magnificent Sound between that Island and the Main possessing great attractions for a Sailor in search of a Port".
  At mid-day on 8 March the exploration party - Stirling, Frazer, Garling, Clause, Lieutenant Belches, Mr Midshipman Heathcote, the ship's clerk Augustus Gilbert, 7 seamen and 4 marines - left the Success in the cutter and the gig and sailed to Point Belches.  There the boats grounded and, as the party was unable to find a channel, the boats were unloaded and dragged across the shallows until nightfall.  While this was being done, Stirling, Frazer and Garling climbed the commanding hill on the west bank, which Stirling named Mount Eliza in honour of Eliza Darling, the Governor's wife.  While there, Garling painted a watercolour landscape view showing the entrance to the river on the opposite side of Melville Water.  Stirling later named this Canning River after the British Prime Minister at that time.
  The next day, dragging across the shallows started at daybreak and continued until nightfall.  Frazer, exploring on land, found a freshwater brook and Stirling named the nearby point of land Point Frazer.  Frazer also found a lagoon of fresh water and the party moved camp to beside it.    On the following morning three armed natives demonstrated their anger at the 'invasion' (Stirling's word) of their territory with violent gestures, but eventually retired.  During the day, the boats reached the Heirisson Islands and in the channel above them progress was much easier, but still slow, due to the winding of the river.  On 11 March the boats passed through a long narrow stretch and encountered more natives, who threatened the boats with their spears from higher ground.  When the boats reached more level terrain, gestures of goodwill defused the situation and the natives disappeared.
  On 12 March the boats reached a place where a tributary, later named Helena River, joined the Swan from the east.  The party also found another fresh water stream, which they named Success, on the west side of the Swan.  From this point on, the Swan narrowed and there were many obstructions.  The next day, the cutter was holed and had to be repaired, after which the party reached a creek which Stirling named Ellen Brook, after his young wife. The Swan was not navigable any further and Stirling and Garling set off on foot for the hills to the east, arriving at about sunset.  On their return to camp they lost their way in the dark, but Frazer sent out search parties to guide them back.  On 14 March the party split into three groups.  Frazer went east and Belches and Heathcote north. Stirling and Clause went west and discovered a freshwater lagoon, some deserted aborigine huts and a fertile region which so pleased Stirling that he named it Henley Park after his Surrey home.
  The return journey was much quicker, being downstream and through previously charted areas.  On arrival at Melville Water, Belches was sent to explore the Canning River.  The rest of the party returned to the Success and spent the next four days surveying the surrounding islands and finding a safe channel into Cockburn Sound.  On 21 March the Success weighed anchor and three days later arrived at Geographe Bay, in order to carry out Governo
caption: Australia's west coast by the mouth of the Swan River
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