John Septimus Roe

He was a renowned explorer, a member of Western Australia's legislative and executive councils for nearly 40 years, but also a participant in the Pinjarra massacre on 28 October 1834.

After the Napoleonic wars ended in 1814, the Rippon returned to England, and Roe was appointed as a midshipman to Horatio under Captain William Henry Dillon on 17 August.

One of their first assignments was to escort a valuable convoy to North America and to then patrol the waters off Newfoundland, protecting the fisheries, under then Governor and Commander-in Chief, Vice Admiral Richard Goodwin Keats.

While anchored at King George Sound in January 1818, Roe nearly drowned in the Kalgan River while trying to circumnavigate Oyster Harbour.

At the end of December 1818, the Mermaid sailed to Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania) to survey the Derwent River and the eastern coast to Macquarie Harbour.

Roe's following voyage the following year was again intended to survey along the north coast, but they ran into violent weather almost as soon as they left Sydney.

After taking repairs, she left without incident, rounded Cape York and again headed west along the coast of Arnhem Land.

When the sails were hauled in, the fore top-mast stay-sail halliards were accidentally let go, and Roe, who was at the masthead holding onto them, fell 50 feet (15 m) onto the deck.

He was knocked unconscious, but was not badly hurt; he recovered quickly, but in later years would attribute to this accident the loss of sight in his right eye.

His instructions were to return to Australia on board the Tamar, which arrived in Sydney in July, and the following month was sent to help establish a settlement at Melville Island.

The Fort Dundas settlement was officially established on 21 October, and shortly afterwards the Tamar sailed for Bombay, where she was refitted and reprovisioned.

Shortly afterwards, however, he was offered the position of Surveyor-General of Western Australia, to be attached to an intended new settlement at the Swan River.

Having accepted the position, Roe had little time to set his affairs in order, as the official party would soon be leaving on the Parmelia.

[1] The fifth son, Frederick Mackie Roe, was second-in-command on Charles Cooke Hunt's 1866 expedition to Lake Lefroy in the Coolgardie region.

The unexpected arrival of three shiploads of settlers in August, all of whom expected to take up land immediately, put Roe's department under extreme pressure.

By April the following year 36 ships had brought settlers to the colony, and Roe's department had a massive backlog of blocks to survey.

As early as December 1830, Roe responded to a request to cut timber below Mount Eliza with: "Mr. Mews to be informed that the neighbourhood of Mt.

In 1955 the State Library obtained on indefinite loan a large collection of log books, diaries and letters left by Roe.