Major Edmund Lockyer, leading an an expedition…
December 1826 CE
This is the beginning of the first European settlement in Western Australia.
Lockyer had been promoted to major in August 1819 and in August 1824 transferred to the 57th Regiment.
Lockyer had arrived at Sydney, capital of the British Colony of New South Wales, aboard the Royal Charlotte in April 1825 with men from the 57th; also with him were his wife and ten children.
In August 1825, Lockyer had been asked to lead an expedition to explore the upper reaches of the Brisbane River, which had only recently been settled by Europeans.
On September 2, Lockyer sailed from Sydney in the cutter Mermaid, arriving at the settlement of Brisbane on September 7.
Leaving the Mermaid at Brisbane, he traveled in a small boat up the river.
Lockyer saw coal in deposits on the banks, becoming the first person to identify coal in Queensland. Lockyer arrived back in Sydney on October 16, 1825, and made a report to Governor Sir Thomas Brisbane.