The Dictionary of Australasian Biography/Fitzgerald, Captain Charles

1374714The Dictionary of Australasian Biography — Fitzgerald, Captain CharlesPhilip Mennell

Fitzgerald, Captain Charles, R.N., C.B., formerly Governor of Western Australia, was the son of Robert Fitzgerald, of Kilkee, county Clare, and entered the royal navy in 1809. He was Governor of the Gambia from 1844 to 1847, and of Western Australia from August 1848 to June 1855. During an exploring expedition, undertaken in Dec. 1848, with a view of confirming Mr. A. C. Gregory's reported discovery of a lead mine on the Murchison, the Governor was speared by blacks, and narrowly escaped with his life. He was created C.B. in 1857, and died on Dec. 29th, 1887, in his ninety-sixth year, at Geraldine House, Kilkee.