Edward John Eyre is well known for his courageous trek across the barren south coast of Australia. The Forrest and Gregory brothers are famous for their exploratory exploits. The names of Hann, Hunt ,and Canning evoke admiration for the work they did in opening up our great state. And Giles, Warburton and Carnegie triumphed in the desert. But what about the indefatigable George Fletcher Moore? While not covering the same distances or going as remote as these great explorers he was active at a time when the early settlers where busy just trying to establish themselves, see what was around them, and find new farming land, all with very few resources.
In the establishment phase of the colony Moore led or was part of eleven expeditions that explored north and south of Mt Bakewell, the Avon Valley, the Swan/Avon River, around York, Wongan Hills, Bolgart, the Abrolhos/Hutt River, Gantheaume Bay and the area around the river named after him, Moore River.
George Fletcher Moore (1798-1886)
Not only did Moore lead numerous expeditions, he compiled a dictionary of Aboriginal words, wrote books, composed a song to Western Australia titled Western Australia For Me, and in his spare time was the Advocate General of Western Australia.
On arrival in Western Australia Moore obtained a grant on the upper Swan River which he named Millendon. His farming interests gradually displaced his legal interests and by 1884 he owned about 10,000 ha of land, including valuable town properties. From the time he arrived in Western Australia he kept a journal detailing the difficulties he encountered in developing his property, the labour problems, frequent food shortages and inflated prices.
This Diary of Ten Years Eventful Life of an Early Settler in Western Australia, Jim Cameron's carefully edited and annotated The Millendon Memoirs: George Fletcher Moore's Western Australian Diaries and Letters, 1830-1841 and the third Volume in the Western Australian Exploration series, Evidences of an Inland Sea (with an Introduction by Professor Jim Cameron), form a trilogy that is an important record of early colonial life.
Kim Epton
Series Editor
