William Henry Norman

On returning to Britain on the Queen of the South, Norman resigned his appointment with the company and commenced his engagement with the Victorian Government.

Prior to her departure, the colonial government passed an Act giving the ship legal status, but this law was overturned by Britain as an attempt to create a naval force independent of the Royal Navy.

In October, the ship underwent refit in Wellington, and resumed duties by delivering British reinforcements to the combat areas.

As the Victorian colonial government required the ship for urgent survey work, her return was requested at the end of the year, with Victoria arriving in Melbourne in March 1861.

Norman and HMCS Victoria, together with other vessels, were immediately dispatched to take a search-and-rescue party to the Gulf to locate and assist Burke and Wills.

[2] On 14 July 1866, the ship Netherby carrying immigrants to Queensland was wrecked off King Island in Bass Strait and all the 413 passengers and 49 crew made it onshore safely, but there they were without shelter and with very limited provisions.

The second officer, John Parry, led a party of crew and passengers to procure assistance from the lighthouse on the island, but there were insufficient supplies there for the number of survivors.

Parry and 3 others took the 23-foot whaleboat at the lighthouse and, despite high winds and rough seas, managed to reach the Australian mainland between Point Roadknight and Barwon Heads, where they met a party of surveyors who immediately assisted them.

The Victorian Government immediately summoned Captain Norman to load supplies of food, blankets, tents and medicine onto Victoria and then proceed at full speed to King Island to rescue the survivors; John Parry (who had travelled to Melbourne by train from Geelong) joined the ship to help locate the survivors.