Mackenzie Grant, and John Edgar, determined and hopeful young Victorians, put into Tien-Tsin Harbour in the Maria Ross. With a nucleus of 1,600 ewes they founded the Pyramid Station of 200,000 acres, and eventually came to be among the prominent northern squatters. Like their contemporaries these gentlemen were forward in exploration. Messr's. Grant and Anderson, with Mr. C. Harper, established in 1871 the noted De Grey Station. Several other gentlemen arrived from Victoria, and among them the McLeods. There was considerable risk entailed in transporting sheep, and of 1,300 shipped at Portland in the Douglas in 1865 only 450 were landed in Western Australia.
Messrs. Hooley and Murray, after leaving Camden Harbour, sailed to Tien-Tsin Harbour, where they landed on 1st April, 1865. They formed private exploration parties and elaborated and confirmed previous explorations and exploited new country. They first traversed the country contiguous to the Harding and Sherlock Rivers, in company with Messrs. Mount, Murray, and E. Anderson. Then they crossed the Harding and Fortescue and forced a passage over the Hamersley Ranges, discovered by Mr. F. T. Gregory. The country thereabouts was so rough that it took them seven days to traverse fifty miles. The ranges were covered with dense spinifex. Then they made the Ashburton River, where their appearance astonished the natives. Here, as further north, the blacks at first had an unspeakable horror of horses and cattle, a horror always intensified when they observed the white man dismount from his steed; they believed man and horse to be one. About sixty blacks prepared to attack the party on the Ashburton, but were easily influenced to change their plans by the firing of a gun. Mr. Hooley and his companions named Mounts Murray and Alexander, from members of the party, proceeded as far as Yanarie Creek, and on the return journey discovered excellent water in the Hamersley Ranges.
New runs were selected after nearly all these private trips—made to pick out good country for settlement purposes. The Roebuck Bay Company was slightly hampered in 1865 by the depredations of natives. This northern country was numerously populated, and the aborigines soon contracted a relish for mutton. They made two serious attacks on the flocks at Roebuck Bay, and on one occasion drove off a considerable number of sheep, eighty of which they speared. The remaining sheep were rescued after a stubborn resistance—it is said that twenty blacks fell under the settlers' guns before the tribe released the plunder. It was soon evident that the north-west natives were not only finer made than those in the south, but were more bold and determined. Unlike most of their kind they depended more on their spears than their legs to save their lives when opposed to white men. Mr. Sholl reported that they surrounded the stations at Roebuck Bay in great numbers, and chased any white man they found alone; moreover, they were night prowlers, thus differing from southern tribes. In 1866 the Roebuck Bay Pastoral Association removed to Nickol Bay, not because of unfitness of the country for stock, but because of the difficulty of communication, and of insufficient numbers to keep the natives in check. The station-holders established near Nickol Bay at the end of 1865 (according to a newspaper record) with 100,000 acres each were:—Messrs. Padbury, J. Withnall, J. Wellard, A.M. McLeod, D. Simson, T. Baynton, J. N. McLeod, G. Lockyer, Viveash and Co., A. E. Anderson, W. and W. H. Knight, Mackenzie Grant, J. E. Richardson, and W. A. Taylor. Mr. J. Edgar had 26,000 acres, and Mr. S. Mullen 20,000. Messrs. Anderson, Mount, Murray, and Hooley had each selected 100,000 acres of newly-discovered land on the Ashburton. By 12th January, 1866, Messrs. R. H. Broadhurst, F. and C. Broadhurst, E. Hartley, and C. S. Holmes had each applied for 100,000 acres on the Ashburton, and Messrs. L. Mount and F. L. Mount for similar areas on the Harding. The Blue Book states that thirty-one runs, representing 2,946,000 acres, were held in the north-west in December, 1865, and stocked with 16,000 sheep, 300 cattle, and 120 horses.
In October, 1865, Mr. Hooley, who was visiting Perth, offered to mark out an overland route to Nickol Bay if the Government would furnish the outfit and two natives. At first some demur was made, but eventually, in November, the offer was accepted. Some time was occupied in making preparations and in traversing parts of the country beforehand. On the 27th May, 1866, Mr. Hooley started from the Geraldine mine on his important trip with five white men, two native prisoners from Rottnest, 1,920 sheep, and two teams of three horses each. A portion of the proposed route had never been traversed, while most of the remainder had only been cursorily scanned by explorers. The proposal to drive stock over this area was doubtful, if not dangerous, considering the reports of explorers. For about 280 miles Mr. Hooley held to the Murchison and then he struck out for settlement on the Fortescue. He kept ahead of the sheep and teams and mapped out the line of progress. In this way and with splendid generalship he accomplished his enterprise without serious difficulty. Good pasturage and fresh water were discovered. Exactly three months after leaving Geraldine he reached the Fortescue, having lost only eight sheep. Thus overland communication was established, and the value of the north-west was greatly enhanced by the cheaper method of getting stock to and from there. Mr. Hooley's services were fully appreciated, for, after returning over the same country a few weeks later in company with a white companion and a native, he was received with acclamation in the old settled districts, and in Perth was presented with a handsome chronometer and chain.
Deliberate and solid progress was thenceforth made in the north-west. The initial difficulties were overcome, and a strong footing was gained; yet the after history was not devoid of tragedy. Wells were sunk at convenient distances along the overland route, and stock was thereby travelled with less risk. In May, 1866, it was determined to form a townsite at Port Walcott. A survey was made, and the town of Roebourne was proclaimed and received its designation in honour of the worthy Surveyor-General. The Government Resident, Mr. R. J. Sholl, reported in November that the first Government land sale was held at Roebourne on 3rd September, when twenty-six town lots were sold at an upset price of £5 each. In the same report he estimates the number of sheep in his district as 17,660, and the number of people as 124. The natives had suffered from an epidemic of small-pox and eight settlers were attacked; the disease was soon eradicated. The clip of wool exceeded anticipation. In December, 1866 (Blue Book), forty-nine runs were held under lease, with an aggregate of 4,720,000 acres.
Several circumstances conspired to make the year 1867 disastrous and tragical, what with a precarious supply of provious, which brought every member of the small community within the reach of starvation, and wrecks by sea, which caused the death of nearly fifty men. The chief calamity was the loss of the Emma. On 3rd March this vessel left Nickol Bay for Fremantle with forty-two people on board, and was never heard of again. It was a tragedy so terrible, so void of the slightest knowledge of the passengers' fate, that each colonist felt as if he had been struck a blow by an enemy in the dark. The sorrow was intensified by the loss of the brave young Trevorton C. Sholl, who was a passenger.
