The outline of John Molloy's birth and early life are believed to be clear, though there is little detail and published accounts vary greatly.
He made his will in 1804, leaving bequests to his son, John, and his daughter, Susanna, who were to inherit their shares of the estate when they reached the age of 21.
[1] The will also stipulates regular payments from the estate to William Molloy's mother, who was living in King's County, Ireland.
On arriving at the Swan River Colony in March 1830, Molloy was advised by Governor Stirling that the best land in the area had already been granted.
Stirling suggested instead that the Molloys join with some other newly arrived settlers in forming a subcolony in the vicinity of Cape Leeuwin.
Late in April, a group of prospective settlers including the Molloys and Bussells accompanied Stirling and his official party to the proposed site of the subcolony.
He became the town's first magistrate, which he found more complicated than at Augusta because of the presence of American whalers and difficult relationships with the Indigenous Australians.
"[6] Molloy subsequently led his soldiers and colonial settlers including the Bussell brothers in a further massacre over a number of days, starting out with isolated killings and then a mass shooting of dozens of Wardandi Noongar people at Lake Minninup.
[8] Noongar oral history remembers that "the white men's guns were too many so some of the Aboriginals got away but they were rounded up and shot north of Capel River".