In March 1827, the Success arrived off the coast of the Swan River in what is now Western Australia to undertake an exploration expedition which aimed to determine the suitability of the area for establishing a British colony.
At the junction of Ellen Brook, Stirling split the party into three groups, sending Belches and George Heathcote to explore to the north, where they found a fresh water lake.
Belches traced the Canning for twenty miles (or 32 kilometres), returning after two days to report that it was a fresh water river "similar in every respect" to the Swan.
After returning to the ship, the crew sailed north for a distance, then southwards to Cape Geographe, when Belches reported finding "a source large enough to be called a River, gushing from the side of the Solid Limestone Rock and rushing to the Sea half a mile distant with a considerable noise."
A Swan River Colony was formed in 1829, and by the end of 1831 had expanded to become the British settlement of Western Australia.