Australind First Settler Landing Stone Memorial Seat

The Australind First Settler Landing Stone Memorial Seat is located on the site of the landing of Australind’s first settlers in 1840 as part of the Western Australian Land Company initiative.

In 1803 Lieutenant de Freycinet, on board the Casurina, sighted a rocky point, which was part of what is known now as Koombana Bay. On entering the Bay, he discovered an inlet which he named Leschenault after the expedition’s botanist, Théodore Leschenault de la Tour.

Following this discovery, the area was mapped in 1831 by John Septimus Roe and explored by land by Lieutenant Henry William St Pierre Bunbury in 1836.

The first four ships to arrive in Port Leschenault (later named Bunbury and Australind) included:

• Island Queen 1840 – a Schooner which arrived in Port Leschenault in December with 22 passengers
• Parkfield 1841 – a Barque which arrived in Port Leschenault in March with 91 passengers
• Diadem 1842 – a three-masted Barque of 398 tons which arrived in Port Leschenault in April with 166 passengers.
• Trusty – a three-masted Rig with a crew of 23. The Trusty made four voyages from England to Australind and Fremantle.

At the time, the harbour was natural, so passengers and cargo had to be put in small boats and rowed ashore through the breakers.

Surrounded by roses, the monument has a plaque showing the original town plan and memorial to early pioneers and ships. Illustrating the prosperous future expected by the Western Australian Land Company, the town plan included a town square, a church, a school, stores, a mill and a public hall. Arriving on the Parkfield in 1841, Marshall Waller Clifton was appointed leader of the 440 settlers and had the responsibility to bring the town plan to fruition.

Sir James Mitchell, His Excellency the Lieutenant Governor of WA, officially unveiled the stone memorial seat in 1938 and was a descendant of Australind settlers.