Frankland River

History

Frankland River was named by the surgeon Thomas Braidwood Wilson in 1829. Wilson, who was on his way to Sydney, left Albany to explore the hinterland while his ship, Governor Phillip, was being repaired. He named Frankland River and Mount Frankland after George Frankland (1800–38), who was the surveyor-general in Van Diemen's Land in 1829. The state government set aside land for the townsite by 1909 and built a hall and a school. No further developments took place for some time and the townsite was not declared until 1947. The town and region were known as Frankland River until 1935. After the building of a local post office, the postmaster shortened the name to Frankland because "Frankland River" was considered too long to fit on signs and documents. In 2007 it was renamed Frankland River again. Western Australia's first European settlement began at Albany in 1826. Gradually the pioneers set out to explore the hinterland, hoping to find areas that would be more suitable for pastoral and agricultural holdings than that of the land in the immediate vicinity of the first settlement. Originally settled by farming families in the late 19th century, following good reports from explorers to the region and due to its good soils, consistent, reliable rainfall, rivers and lakes, the land was cleared of its heavy wandoo, jarrah and marri to make way for pastures for grazing and arable land for cropping. John Hassell, a retired sea captain, was responsible for opening up extensive areas in the south of the state during the 1850s. He owned large flocks of sheep, which needed the constant attention of shepherds, as the only fences in existence were post-and-rail. Many of the shepherds drove their flocks into the Frankland area, which has many small creeks surrounded by…