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John Septimus Roe (8 May 1797 – 28 May 1878) was the firstSurveyor-General of Western Australia. He was a renowned explorer, a member of Western Australia'slegislative and executive councils for nearly 40 years, but also a participant in thePinjarra massacre on 28 October 1834.
John Septimus Roe was born atNewbury, Berkshire on 8 May 1797.[1] He was the seventh son of James Roe, therector of Newbury.[1] At 10 years of age, Roe was sent toChrist's Hospital School (which is still standing today) inLondon, to study for a career as aschoolteacher.[1][2] There, he showed a great aptitude formathematics, and was selected for training by the Mathematical School, which trained selected students for service in theRoyal Navy.[2] He was an outstanding student, and was apprenticed to the Navy at the age of 15.[1]
John Septimus Roe entered the Naval service on 11 June 1813.[3] His first appointment was as amidshipman onRippon, captained bySir Christopher Cole. Over the next year, theRippon was engaged in a blockade of theFrench coast. After theNapoleonic Wars ended in 1814, theRippon returned to England, and Roe was appointed as a midshipman toHoratio under CaptainWilliam 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 AdmiralRichard Goodwin Keats.[4]: 240 Roe travelled withHoratio until January 1817.
At the conclusion of theNapoleonic Wars, the prospects for a junior officer were limited. On the recommendation of his former captain, Dillon, his former Commander in chief,Richard Goodwin Keats recognising his aptitude for navigation and cartography provided a letter of recommendation to theUnited Kingdom Hydrographic Office.[4]: 265 On 4 February 1817, the Admiralty appointed him to thesurveying service inNew South Wales, under the command of CaptainPhillip Parker King; Roe sailed for New South Wales on the troopshipDick, arriving on 3 September 1817.
Roe's first survey journey as assistant to King was theKing expedition of 1817, a rough survey of the northern and north-west coast ofAustralia. The party sailed fromPort Jackson (Sydney Harbour) on board theMermaid on 21 December 1817, sailing south then west along the south coast of Australia. While anchored atKing George Sound in January 1818, Roe nearly drowned in theKalgan River while trying to circumnavigateOyster Harbour.
Later, Roe was permitted to name a bay on the northwest coast, which he namedNickol Bay in honour of a man who had been lost overboard. On the north coast, King named a point on the peninsula called Mount Roe in Roe's honour. TheMermaid eventually returned down the west coast and back along the south coast toSydney, arriving on 29 July.
At the end of December 1818, theMermaid sailed toVan Diemen's Land (nowTasmania) to survey theDerwent River and the eastern coast toMacquarie Harbour. It was a simple task, and they were back in Sydney by the middle of February 1819.
The King expedition two years later (1819) was expected to last eight or nine months. Their mission was to make a proper survey of the northern coast. After leaving Sydney on 8 May 1819, theMermaid roundedCape York and crossed theGulf of Carpentaria. They then spent a substantial period exploring and surveying the coast and islands ofArnhem Land, before surveyingBathurst Island, then exploring and surveyingCambridge Gulf. They then continued their survey of the coast, past Cape Londonderry and westwards as far as the Bonaparte Archipelago. Again they crossed to Timor for provisions, then returned to Sydney.
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.Mermaid'sbowsprit was lost, and she was forced to return to Sydney with three feet of water in the hold. After taking repairs, she left without incident, rounded Cape York and again headed west along the coast of Arnhem Land.
At Goulburn Island, Roe was ambushed by natives and narrowly escaped with his life. Continuing west,Mermaid developed such a bad leak that King decided tocareen her at a bay that was consequently named Careening Bay. Upon completion of repairs, theMermaid was still found to be leaking, so the decision was taken to return to Sydney along the west and south coasts. Two rivers were discovered in York Sound and traced, one of them being namedRoe River in honour of Roe's father.
On return to Port Jackson, theMermaid was found to be no longer seaworthy, and was replaced by the brigBathurst. In the May 1821 King expedition, Roe sailed in theBathurst. They sailed north up the coast, anchoring at Cairncross Island in bad weather on 30 June. When the sails were hauled in, the foretop-maststay-sailhalliards were accidentally let go, and Roe, who was at themasthead 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.
Despite the accident, the expedition proceeded to the west coast, which was surveyed as far asRoebuck Bay. At the end of August, they sailed forMauritius. After three weeks there, they headed south to King George Sound. They then sailed north up the west coast, surveying as they went, before returning to Port Jackson. During this voyage, Roe was promoted to lieutenant. Back in Sydney, Roe carried out a survey of Sydney Harbour. Despite the capsizing of his boat on 19 August 1822, with the loss of four lives, the survey was completed, to be published by the Admiralty in 1826. Shortly after completion of the survey, Roe returned toEngland on theBathurst, arriving in June 1823.
Roe received his next commission on 2 February 1824. His instructions were to return to Australia on board theTamar, which arrived in Sydney in July, and the following month was sent to help establish a settlement atMelville Island. TheFort Dundas settlement was officially established on 21 October, and shortly afterwards theTamar sailed forBombay, where she was refitted and reprovisioned. She then spent some time in surveying and naval duties betweenCeylon,India andRangoon.
Whilst onTamar Roe served in theFirst Anglo-Burmese War. After a number of other excursions,Tamar returned to England, arriving late in November 1827.[5]
Back in England, Roe spent some time recovering his health, which had been poor, and visiting his family. When the position ofSurveyor-General of New South Wales became vacant, he expressed interest, but was informed it had already been filled. Shortly afterwards, however, he was offered the position ofSurveyor-General of Western Australia, to be attached to an intended new settlement at theSwan River. Roe accepted on the condition that the position be a civilian appointment, as he was keen to leave the navy.
Having accepted the position, Roe had little time to set his affairs in order, as the official party would soon be leaving on theParmelia. He then set about the purchase of equipment for his own requirements and for the surveying office. The Roes embarked upon the barqueParmelia on 3 February 1829.
Roe proposed to Matilda Bennett and they married before leaving for Australia in February 1829. Matilda Roe's fondness for gardening is claimed to be the reason for the kink betweenSt Georges Terrace andAdelaide Terrace, the main streets through Perth's central business district.[6] Their home in Western Australia for many years was "Mandalay",Middle Swan, later the home of the art dealer and benefactorClaude Hotchin.[7]
Roe and his wife had thirteen children.[1] The fifth son, Frederick Mackie Roe, was second-in-command onCharles Cooke Hunt's 1866 expedition toLake Lefroy in theCoolgardie region.
TheParmelia arrived at the Swan River on 1 June 1829. Roe immediately set about making preliminary surveys of the harbour, river and surrounding land. The sites ofPerth andFremantle were chosen on his recommendation, and he was responsible for laying out the towns. During this period, Roe had only a single assistant to help him. Because of the immediate need to survey the harbour and lay out the towns, no rural blocks were surveyed until September. 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. Roe later said of this period:[a]
I went there with the very first ship, with the first Governor, Captain Stirling. I had on my staff only one assistant surveyor, and what could be done with one assistant, with the whole of the townships to be fixed upon and surveyed, the country to be examined, the settlers located, the harbours to be surveyed, &c. &c.? It was perfectly impossible to do more than we did. Everything that could be done was done, but it was insufficient to place the people on their lands in time to prevent their sustaining very great losses.
John Septimus Roe conducted numerous exploring expeditions between 1829 and 1849:
With the death of Matilda in 1871, Roe sought permission to retire. At 73 years of age, he had served the colony for more than 40 years.[10]
Already blind in one eye, he became increasingly infirm over the next five years. He died on 28 May 1878,[11] and was honoured by a public funeral and burial atEast Perth Cemetery.[12]
Arguably the most significant legacy left by Roe was the setting aside ofKings Park. As early as December 1830, Roe responded to a request to cut timber belowMount Eliza with: "Mr. Mews to be informed that the neighbourhood of Mt. Eliza is reserved for public purposes".
Although it is widely accepted that Roe's successorsMalcolm Fraser andJohn Forrest were most instrumental in the establishment of Kings Park, Roe was clearly responsible for the initial setting aside of the park.
Roe was the founding president of theSwan River Mechanics' Institute, holding the position until his death. Both theWestern Australian Museum and theState Library of Western Australia emerged from the institute, Roe's large scientific collection forming the basis for the museum's collection. Jackson (1982) has argued that Roe can be regarded as the founder of both institutions.
During Roe's time in term in the Survey Office, he attempted to transcribe every journal of exploration in Western Australia. HisLetterbook of Explorers' Journals survives to this day, as a result of which Western Australia has an exceptionally good record of its early explorations, nearly every significant journal being extant from 1827 until Roe's retirement in 1870.
In 1955 the State Library obtained on indefinite loan a large collection of log books, diaries and letters left by Roe. The collection constitutes one of the most important private collections ever to be lodged with the library.
John Septimus Roe was honoured in numerous place names:
Media related toJohn Septimus Roe at Wikimedia Commons
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