Robert John Sholl (16 July 1819 – 19 June 1886) was a government administrator, magistrate, explorer, journalist, entrepreneur, harbourmaster, customs official, postmaster and lay reader in Western Australia (WA), during the colonial era.

[1][4] Because of his multiple, simultaneous roles, which carried judicial, political, cultural and commercial power and influence, Sholl is regarded as a significant figure in the history of North-West Australia, at an early stage of its settlement by Europeans.

[5] His headquarters at Roebourne was extremely isolated – messages took weeks to travel between Sholl and his immediate superior, Frederick Barlee, Colonial Secretary of Western Australia.

[6] Consequently, Sholl wielded considerable, de facto executive power;[7] an obituary in The West Australian described him as having been "virtually a Lieutenant Governor" of the North District.

[1] The Sholl family originated in Cornwall and had strong ties to maritime industries, the armed forces, international trade, public office and medicine, in both England and Australia.

In mid-1842, Sholl was one of 24 signatories to an open letter to brothers Alfred and Charles Bussell, thanking them "for the liberal, spirited, and persevering manner with which you have constantly met the aggression of the natives upon the lives and property of the settlers".

[26] Sholl resigned from The Inquirer in early 1855, and with financial support from George Leake, established a new weekly, The Commercial News and Shipping Gazette, from offices in Fremantle.

By contrast, Sholl and The Inquirer were very supportive of both Kennedy's assistant, Frederick Barlee (Colonial Secretary of Western Australia in 1855–75) and his successor as Governor, John Hampton.

[29] I have endeavoured in the foregoing instructions to place you fully in possession of the views of His Excellency Governor Hampton upon the principal points of duty that will devolve upon you, but there are numerous details into which it is impossible I should enter, and which, at so great a distance from headquarters, can only be decided by yourself.

The first settlers in the northern half of Western Australia – led by Perth entrepreneur Walter Padbury – disembarked on 8 May 1863 with sheep and other livestock at Tien Tsin Harbor [sic] (later known as Cossack), near the Harding River.

In 1864, plans for a settlement (and, potentially, a separate Colony) near the northern tip of WA, emerged in the form of the Camden Harbor [sic] Pastoral Association.

[34] From 29 June to 3 May 1865 they were hosts to the crew of the "Forlorn Hope", escapees from the failed settlement at Escape Cliffs, Northern Territory, and were treated hospitably.

[38] The Resident, with a significantly reduced staff, moved to Tien Tsin Harbor and set up a government camp near the homestead of Mount Welcome Station, a pastoral lease held by Emma and John Withnell.

Sholl was accompanied by his son Trevarton and about 10 other government employees, most of them semi-skilled labourers, along with a few police and southern Aboriginal convicts, detached from the prison on Rottnest Island.

[39] However, many Aboriginal people were dying as a result of newly introduced diseases, exacerbated by drought, famine and competition with settlers and their livestock, and; violence.

[41] In some cases, pearlers and pastoralists used coercion, and confinement, supported by the severe Master & Servant laws, to recruit, retain and discipline indigenous workers.

As was this case in many parts of northern Australia, this evolved into a form of unfree labour, officially sanctioned and enforced by police, under which indigenous people became dependent upon "rations" (payment in kind; i.e. food and other goods and services) provided by their employers.

While pastoralists attempted to retain employees on sheep stations, it is also alleged (conversely) that pearlers sometimes abandoned indigenous crew members far from their traditional lands.

In March 1867, a 116-ton wooden schooner, Emma, departed from Tien Tsin Harbor with 41 people, approximately one third of the settler population of the north-west; the ship disappeared before reaching Fremantle.

The number and identity of those killed by the special constables in the "Flying Foam Massacre" is unknown; estimates range from two to 150, although a figure of 30–40 dead is often cited.

An even larger cyclone hit the region on 6 January 1881 and, in spite of building improvements over the preceding nine years, had deadly consequences for the pearling industry, killing 16 people and sinking or beaching all but one vessel in the area.

However, Sholl remained close to business people such as Broadhurst, who were attracting attention due to deaths, disease and injury amongst their indigenous employees.