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reduced to privation owing to the delayed arrival of vessels with food supplies. Lockyer returned to Sydney in April, 1827, leaving Captain Wakefield in command. This officer was succeeded in turn by Captain Barker, who retained control until the convicts were withdrawn and the idea of a penal settlement abandoned. This took place by proclamation dated March 7, 1831. The withdrawal of the troops and convicts was due to various causes. One of the conditions laid down by the Government in 1828 regarding the then proposed settlement at Swan River was that no convicts were to be sent there. Those who entered upon the scheme did not consequently relish the presence of a convict establishment within the borders of the territory. Then the commission issued to Captain Stirling as Governor, and which was dated March 5, 1831, described the colony as that portion of Australia lying west of the 129th meridian of eastern longitude, and therefore a settlement under other control could scarcely continue to exist. Further, Governor Stirling wished to settle colonists in the southern portions of the State (as may be seen from part of a despatch to the Secretary of State dated January 30, 1830). In this he says:—"In obedience to instructions directed to me under date of December 30 I am desirous of attracting settlers to occupy the country in the southern districts of this territory, and I intend shortly to submit for public selection and occupation lands situated in the direction of King George Sound. At present a military post is maintained there, and which is under the command of General Darling. I therefore take the liberty to suggest that the present Commandant and his party should be removed, and the duties of that station be committed to an officer and a small party of soldiers from the detachment serving under the Officer Commanding the troops in this settlement." This course was approved by the Home authorities, and Stirling was informed in a despatch dated July 20, 1830, that General Darling had been so instructed. These instructions were carried out early in the following March, and on the 7th of that month, as stated above, the settlement at the Sound was brought under the control of the Western Australian Government. Meanwhile the French scare had become more pronounced in New South Wales by the arrival at Sydney in December, 1826, of the corvette "L'Astrolabe," which had spent almost the whole of the month of October at King George Sound. Just about that time, too, information arrived from London that the French Government had asked Lord John Russell what portion of Australia England considered to be included within the boundaries of her territory—a question to which Lord John gave the historic reply, "The whole." In Governor Darling's opinion these facts made the necessity for some definite British settlement on the west coast more insistent. Fortunately the means of carrying his conviction into operation were available.

Reports had been received by the Secretary of State in England to the effect that the settlement founded at Melville Island on the northern coast in 1824 was unlikely to realize expectations. In consequence Lord Bathurst directed the Governor of New South Wales to send a man-of-war to the spot, with orders to the captain to remove the settlement, if necessary, to a more suitable site, preferably one further eastward. The man-of-war at Sydney when the despatch arrived was H.M.S. "Success," commanded by Captain (afterwards Sir James) Stirling. Governor Darling, so far as the records show, appears to have communicated Lord Bathurst's wishes to Captain Stirling in an informal, unofficial way, for the first intimation we have of their receipt is in the form of two letters from Stirling to the Governor, in the first of which—dated December 8, 1826—it was pointed out that the north-west monsoonal rains would interfere with the removal of the Melville Island settlement until after April; in the other—dated December 14—Stirling suggested that he should employ the ship during the interval in making an examination of the Swan River, which had been surveyed by the French in 1803-4. On December 18 the Governor informed Lord Bathurst that he had "acquiesced" in Stirling's proposal, "as it is of great importance that so advantageous a position should not be taken possession of by the French."

On January 17, therefore, the "Success," under command of Captain Stirling, and having on board Mr. Charles Fraser, the Colonial Botanist, left Sydney with a view of making up the French survey deficiences and of examining thoroughly the country in the vicinity of Swan River. During the early part of the voyage she was accompanied by a cutter, whose sailing qualities, however, turned out to be inferior; consequently the vessels parted company, the smaller craft being instructed to make for King George Sound, for the settlement at which she was carrying provisions. On March 4 Stirling sighted land and rounded Cape Leeuwin. "The first appearance of the coast we were now to explore," he says, "presented nothing attractive; the monotony of its outline and the dusky hue of the meagre vegetation it supported at once accounted for the sterile and hopeless character attributed by early navigators to this region." On the following day Rottnest Island was reached and explored, and on March 6, 1827, the "Success" anchored off the South Head of Swan River. Early on the morning of the 8th Stirling started to carry out the real objects of the expedition, which were "to proceed, if possible, to the source of the river—to examine the banks and the depth of water, to fix on an eligible spot for a settlement, to ascertain the productions of the country,