The arrival of the barque Scindian at Fremantle on 1 June 1850 signalled the start of Western Australia’s period as a penal settlement. Then known as the Swan River Colony, the State had been founded as a colony of free settlers, but a faltering economy…
The Rosers arrived in 1842 on the Simon Taylor, a ship that brought labourers and tradespeople to the Swan River Colony, a small enclave of settlers on the west coast of Australia. The settlement was just over a decade old and badly in need of a…
Janice Young named her book In Search of Elizabeth after Elizabeth Roser, daughter of William and Diana, whom she believed had disappeared from the family home. This is how she explained it: Among the first of William’s tasks, was to build a cottage to shelter…
What made people migrate to Western Australia? In the early years of the State, or the Swan River Colony as it was called, there were a couple of main reasons which depended upon the social and economic background of the immigrant. Those with money saw…
John Skinner Prout (1805-1876) was an artist who came to Australia in the 1840s. He described his voyage out to Australia in an article in The Illustrated London News, with sketches of life on board ship. Emigrants to the Swan River Colony would have had a similar…
Two boys played under a tree in front of the house. Diana Roser watched them through the window until a shower of rain sent them scurrying home. Diana turned back into the room reluctantly, her eyes adjusting to the darkness, straining to focus on the…
Battye’s History of Western Australia contains this description of the convict system in Western Australia. It is a helpful document for those studying family history in the State. APPENDIX 3. THE CONVICT SYSTEM. Recognising it to be the duty of the historian to record facts…