South West Life

Upon arriving in the Colony which was to become Western Australia, the English fairly quickly turned their attention to occupying as much country as they could. This was a strategic move, and the discussion about who they were keen to displace, be it Dutch, French, Aboriginal or even Americans is something that has never really been recorded, and we can but speculate. Suffice it to say that while all of those peoples had an interest in the land, it was the British who eventually conquered.

In 1829 the Swan River Colony was established under Captain Stirling, In April 1830 it had been decided to establish a townsite near the mouth of the Blackwood River, and the man appointed to be Government Resident in that place was one John Molloy. He was given the dual roles of Magistrate and Collector of Customs.

Molloy's history before this appointment is interesting. There is a deal of speculation about his parentage. Records in England are quite unclear about the circumstances and place of his birth, unusual for a man of the gentry. Much of the speculation comes from the considerable likeness he bore to the royal family at the time, and while no one is able to offer proof, a compelling case has been made that he was the illegitimate son of the Duke of York. Illegitimate sons of the royal family appear to have been quite common, and while they could not be acknowledged, John Molloy had an ongoing and quite close relationship with Prince Frederick Augustus, Duke of York, second son of King George III. The reason for naming the townsite of Augusta is not clear either, another clue to Molloy's origins?

John Molloy had been in both the Navy and the Army. He was badly wounded at Waterloo and seems to have gained a deal of popularity over twenty five years as a soldier. In 1828 he married Georgiana, who is a fascinating woman in her own right and will doubtless be the subject of a later history edition. At that time he sought out a new adventure, and the Swan River Colony beckoned. Conjecture is that he was posted to Augusta because he and Stirling disagreed on a range of matters, and while the post was important, it took his range of influence well away from the seat of the governor.

Collecting customs from those importing goods and from the American whalers who frequented the coast was important. The role of magistrate was became more of a focus as the population at Augusta and Vasse grew. In what seems to have been a prophetic circumstance, the arrival of the American fleet seemed to often bring with it an amount of drunkenness and public misbehaviour. Indeed the magistrate tried as best he could to impose conditions of temperance on the whalers, and records show that this was no easy task.

While a history of soldiering indicates that Molloy was not easily intimidated, the role of magistrate was clearly not without it's perils, and with little administrative and logistic support, much less sufficient force, we have records of him "tempering justice with caution" on occasion. No doubt some support was found from two men who accompanied him to the colony who had been his corporals. These men took the place of the servants someone of the gentry may be expected to employ in an outpost of the empire, but it shows a deal of foresight to have a couple of servants who one knew could be relied upon in a scrap. It says a little about the administration of justice in the far flung reaches at the time.

In the 1840s and 50s, the task of maintaining public order was clearly difficult. There were stocks in use for misdemeanors in Augusta, and the courthouse in Vasse had cells added in 1856. It seems that until then, those convicted of offences such as foul language, drunkenness and stealing were simply chained to a post installed in the courthouse yard for the purpose. A story exists that for quite some time, the convicts were able to lift the post from it's hole, and carry it to the public house, where they would purchase liquor, and then carry the post back to the courthouse where they could "sleep it off".

The study of Molloy suggests that the life of even the wealthy in establishing the South West was not an easy one. The struggle of overseeing order was clearly difficult, including some examples of attempting to ensure just and civil relations with the Aborigines which were a shameful failure, and politics seemed not always to favour him.

The same study reveals a man who did as well as he could and treated those around him with good humour, and who genuinely cared for justice.

The stories of who he was, how he came to get here, and the actions he took to establish Augusta and Vasse offer fascinating insights into the times and the obstacles that all of them confronted putting this place here for us to enjoy.