King George Sound

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King George Sound is the name of a sound on the south coast of Western Australia. Located at 35°2′ S 117°56′ E (-35.033333333333, 117.93333333333),^[1] it is the site of the city of Albany. It contains two almost land-locked harbours with excellent protection from winds and heavy seas, Princess Royal Harbour and Oyster Harbour. The former was Western Australia's only deep-water port for around 70 years.

[edit] History

Philip Parker King's 1818 sketch of Oyster Harbour

King George Sound was first discovered in 1791 by the English explorer George Vancouver. Matthew Flinders anchored in the Sound for about a month in 1801, Philip Parker King visited it in 1822, and Frenchman Dumont d'Urville visited it in 1826. On December 25, 1826, the British ship Amity, under the command of Major Edmund Lockyer, arrived at King George Sound to establish a military outpost.^[2] Lockyer named his settlement "Fredrickstown", but this name never gained wide acceptance.^[3] Instead the settlement and surrounding locality were usually referred to as King George Sound. In 1832, Governor of Western Australia Captain (later Admiral) Sir James Stirling declared the settlement a town and renamed it Albany, but the broader locality continued to be referred to as King George Sound for many years.

Until the construction of Fremantle Harbour in 1897, King George Sound contained the only deepwater port in Western Australia, and so was the favoured location for delivery of mail and supplies from abroad to Western Australia. These were then transported to Perth and Fremantle by road or coastal shipping until the early 1890's with the completion of the Great southern railway providing a quicker service.

In 1914 King George Sound was the last Australian anchorage for the fleet taking the first Australian and New Zealand soldiers, later to become known as ANZACS to Europe, a memorial to this has been established on top of Mount Clarence. Albany was where the first commemorative dawn service was held on ANZAC Day, 25 April 1923. The contribution of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, president of Turkey from 1923 until 1938 is recognised by naming the entrance into Princess Royal Harbour as Ataturk Channel.

[edit] References

^ King George Sound. Gazetteer of Australia. Geoscience Australia. Retrieved on 2007-02-18.
^ Appleyard, R. T. and Toby Manford (1979). The Beginning: European Discovery and Early Settlement of Swan River Western Australia. Nedlands, Western Australia: University of Western Australia Press. ISBN 0855641460.
^ Statham - Drew, Pamela (2003). James Stirling: Admiral and Founding Governor of Western Australia. Nedlands, Western Australia: University of Western Australia Press. ISBN 1876268948.