Emma Withnell

Emma Mary Withnell (née Hancock; 19 December 1842 – 16 May 1928), was the first white and female settler in north west Western Australia; a pioneering pastoralist and businessperson.

In 1864, in the hopes of starting a farm, Withnell, her husband, her two children, and her sister Francis moved to Port Walcott on the Sea Ripple; they encountered a shipwreck and lost most of their livestock.

Withnell was known as Mother of the North West among the aborigines in the area as she often tended to the sick and delivered babies in her own house.

The indigenous community presented her with the title of "Boorong", which apparently gave her more leeway to interact with the various tribes in the region.

[1] In 2023 The West Australian newspaper identified 100 people who had shaped the state of Western Australia and they included the botanist Georgiana Molloy, suffragist Bessie Rischbieth, politician Edith Cowan, Sister Margaret O'Brien, Dr Roberta Jull, Amy Jane Best and Withnell.