[4][5] Barrow was fortunate to secure the close friendship of the resident magistrate, Rivett Henry Bland,[6] and bought a 4-hectare (10-acre) property from him for 10 pounds,[7][a] on which he built a "small house".
[6] As Guardian of Aborigines, Barrow at first found his duties difficult; he reported in June 1840: How little good I have been enabled to accomplish [largely because he felt] left to act on my own responsibility, without the advantage of either a legal advisor, nor an Interpreter.
[14]Nine months later, on 31 March 1841, Barrow reported : On arriving in the District allotted to me by the Local Government, my first step was to endeavour, by a distribution of flour, to assemble the natives together, and introduce myself.
[15]To quote McLaren and Cooper: Barrow also noted that the majority of settlers, now aware of their numerical superiority and the value of Aborigines as workers, attempted to treat them humanely, for already a growing number were incorporated within the workforce, often with highly satisfactory results.
Despite the risk of being attacked by their fellow Ballardong, a substantial number of Aboriginal people gained employment as cattle-herders and shepherds on pastoral holdings, where there were frequent reports of their reliability and dedication.
[22] He published an advertisement aimed at "educating the rising generations of Western Australians"[23] and also courting the hope of inducing families resident in India to send their children there, instead of to England.
In the advertisement, he named as instructors John Burdett Wittenoom, Reverend Mears, Henry Maxwell Lefroy and himself, and Viveash as medical officer.