189:; also a branch mail between Mandurah and Pinjarrah". Until this time, it had been assumed that the journey between Fremantle and Albany took two weeks. Watson discovered a new route and managed the journey in five days. He guarded the specifics of his new route for fear that the government would undercut him and he would lose his contract. Later that year his diary of one of these journeys was published in the colonial newspaper, describing the hardships of bushland, weather, and poor roads encountered along the way. He also took passengers on this route, and advertised his prices for parcels and transport between the towns he visited. A return trip between Fremantle and Mandurah cost 15 shillings, and a return trip between Fremantle to Albany cost £8. Parcels under 1lb cost 1/6 to send to Albany, parcels over 1lb cost 4 shillings.
61:
80:. He obtained an order for 50 tons of timber, but could not find the men to cut it and by the time he had enlisted a labour force the men who had placed the order had already left the colony. He attempted to obtain a government contract for his timber, and in the meantime transported planks to Thomas Peel's Clarence settlement to be exported. The export ships never arrived, and Watson gave up his attempts to work his timber grant. In 1839, his entire grant was bought for £60 by George Leake, a Fremantle solicitor.
89:
holdings to calculate how much land to grant them, but this position became redundant as the flow of settlers fell to almost zero. Finally he took a position as a clerk in the
Colonial Secretary's office for a very small wage, but eventually gave up his hopes of living in the Perth area and quit to head south.
51:
in
December 1829. He brought surveying instruments with him, but at first he did not seek surveying work, preferring to establish himself as a farmer upon his grant. He was independently wealthy and had brought servants with him to work his land grant. But in February 1830 his camp was burnt out in a
161:
Watson became the first mail contractor for the Murray
District in 1841, receiving £80 for the year to travel between Pinjarra and Bunbury. He surveyed the Pinjarra-Fremantle Road in the same year. He lost the tender in 1842, and focused on working the ferry crossing and running a hotel at Mandurah.
88:
Due to his financial hardships, in 1831 he applied to the
Governor for a job and was offered the position of temporary chainer in the Survey Department, which he carried on side by side with his timber enterprise. Later he worked for the Department of Council and Audit, assessing settlers' property
52:
bushfire and he lost £600 worth of goods, including most of his surveying tools. He used his remaining capital to support himself and his servants for the next year, but in 1831 he had no money left and had to release his employees from their agreements. In April 1831 he married Ann Smythe.
192:
During his time as mail carrier he continued to survey roads and build bridges, using soldiers stationed at Albany and
Kojonup to carry out the work. In 1848 his report on the improvements of roads outside Albany was published in the newspaper.
539:
108:
and
Mandurah itself. Evidence suggests that at least some of Watson's work was inferior in quality. Some of his surveys had to be re-done by others, and his Bunbury plans were discarded.
134:
ford. It was stated that the roads that Watson and others had surveyed in these districts were "perfectly impassable for 7 or 8 months of the year" due to flooding .
513:
126:
The late 1830s saw Watson paid for two surveys; one unspecified in connection with roads and bridges to the southern districts, and one for a road from
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487:
461:
145:. Similarly he is credited as recording the name Banganup Lake in the Cockburn area during his 1841 surveys. He is also credited as naming
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76:. In May 1833 he was advertising his timber for sale as "30 tons of very superior mahogany, in the log, well seasoned". The timber was
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Little is known of his early life, but he was trained as a surveyor before arriving at the Swan River Colony as part of
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115:, near Thomas Peel's land. From there he continued on and completed a partial survey of the Murray River east to the
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101:
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Early land grants in the Swan River colony, 1839. Thomas Watson's grant is in the lower left, beside Thomas Peel's.
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He was generally held to have performed his role well and was highly regarded at the end of his contract in 1849.
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47:
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Watson is credited as having recorded the
Aboriginal word "Kougee" in 1841, which became the word
540:"Road from the Dandalup Bridge to Fremantle, Sheet 3. From 32 mile peg to Fremantle by T. Watson"
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In 1847 Watson's tender to carry mail between several south-west settlements was accepted by
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district. He was involved in several large surveys, including the original survey of the
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in the same year. The maps of these surveys are held in the State
Records Office of WA.
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69:
123:, recording the type of land, bush, flora and fauna he encountered along the way.
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169:, the Colonial Secretary. He was to carry mail once a month "from Fremantle to
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In
October 1835 he took a group of people intending to settle new land to the
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215:
Parks, Raymond G. (1990). "The
Bunbury Town Survey—A Surveyor's View".
72:, which he used to source timber. It corresponded roughly with today's
96:, in order to participate in the extensive surveys scheduled for the
708:
Perth Gazette and Western Australian Journal (WA : 1833 - 1847)
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Perth Gazette and Western Australian Journal (WA : 1833 - 1847)
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Perth Gazette and Western Australian Journal (WA : 1833 - 1847)
314:
Perth Gazette and Western Australian Journal (WA : 1833 - 1847)
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59:
756:"THE INQUIRER. Occulta vitia inquirere. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 9,1848"
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Watson was granted 1000 acres of land at the southern end of
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Inquirer and Commercial News (Perth, WA : 1855 - 1901)
593:
The Murray district of Western Australia : a history
242:
The Murray district of Western Australia : a history
565:"Colonial Secretary's Office, Perth, January 10, 1841"
514:"Road from Dandalup Bridge to Fremantle by T. Watson"
652:"Colonial Secretary's Office, Perth, April 17, 1847"
379:. Cockburn, W.A.: Town of Cockburn. p. 27.
344:. Cockburn, W.A.: Town of Cockburn. p. 13.
280:. Cockburn, W.A.: Town of Cockburn. p. 17.
8:
678:"THE INQUIRER. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 1847"
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208:
141:and refers to a lake and settlement area in
16:For other people named Thomas Watson, see
376:Cockburn : the making of a community
341:Cockburn : the making of a community
277:Cockburn : the making of a community
786:Inquirer (Perth, WA : 1840 - 1855)
760:Inquirer (Perth, WA : 1840 - 1855)
734:Inquirer (Perth, WA : 1840 - 1855)
682:Inquirer (Perth, WA : 1840 - 1855)
630:Inquirer (Perth, WA : 1840 - 1855)
596:. : Shire of Murray. pp. 175–178.
439:Inquirer (Perth, WA : 1840 - 1855)
204:
92:In 1834, Watson moved to the town of
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333:
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232:
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245:. : Shire of Murray. p. 31.
45:'s settlement scheme, on board
409:"EARLY RECORDS OF EXPLORATION"
104:town site, along with work in
56:Timber merchant and saw-miller
18:Thomas Watson (disambiguation)
1:
818:Settlers of Western Australia
710:. 4 September 1847. p. 3
684:. 10 November 1847. p. 2
415:. 28 October 1898. p. 10
736:. 8 November 1848. p. 1
571:. 15 January 1842. p. 4
441:. 25 August 1841. p. 3
834:
788:. 14 March 1849. p. 4
762:. 9 August 1848. p. 2
658:. 24 April 1847. p. 4
632:. 7 August 1844. p. 6
544:State Records Office of WA
518:State Records Office of WA
15:
590:Richards, Ronald (1978).
239:Richards, Ronald (1978).
30:and early settler of the
373:Berson, Michael (1978).
338:Berson, Michael (1978).
316:. 4 May 1833. p. 72
310:"Classified Advertising"
274:Berson, Michael (1978).
538:Watson, Thomas (1841).
512:Watson, Thomas (1841).
492:www0.landgate.wa.gov.au
466:www0.landgate.wa.gov.au
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167:George Fletcher Moore
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813:Australian surveyors
488:"Perth suburb names"
462:"Perth suburb names"
704:"PERTH TOWN TRUST"
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36:Western Australia
32:Swan River Colony
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147:The Spectacles
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24:Thomas Watson
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790:. Retrieved
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223:(2): 157–68.
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157:Mail carrier
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113:Murray River
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181:, Bunbury,
98:Leschenault
43:Thomas Peel
807:Categories
603:0959616802
386:0959653309
351:0959653309
287:0959653309
252:0959616802
217:Early Days
200:References
179:Australind
183:Busselton
128:Fremantle
792:12 April
766:12 April
740:12 April
714:12 April
688:12 April
662:12 April
636:13 April
575:13 April
497:12 April
471:12 April
445:12 April
419:12 April
320:13 April
175:Mandurah
143:Cockburn
132:Dandalup
121:Pinjarra
94:Mandurah
84:Surveyor
74:Wattleup
28:surveyor
612:7176449
395:6917991
360:6917991
296:6917991
261:7176449
187:Kojonup
151:Kwinana
130:to the
102:Bunbury
48:Gilmore
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549:18 May
523:18 May
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185:, and
171:Albany
139:Coogee
26:was a
78:tuart
794:2018
768:2018
742:2018
716:2018
690:2018
664:2018
638:2018
608:OCLC
598:ISBN
577:2018
551:2018
525:2018
499:2018
473:2018
447:2018
421:2018
391:OCLC
381:ISBN
356:OCLC
346:ISBN
322:2018
292:OCLC
282:ISBN
257:OCLC
247:ISBN
173:via
119:and
106:York
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
