People/marmionpatrick.html
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Patrick Marmion
Patrick Marmion (1815-1856) was the father of William Marmion MLC, MLA. He had come to Fremantle as an indentured servant. By the time William was born, he was a wealthy merchant.
Text from the Marmion memorial plaque at Marmion >
The plaque commemorates pioneer and whaler, Patrick Marmion, who established a whaling station near the site. In 1837 two whaling companies started up at Fremantle. Patrick Marmion was able to gain the licence to operate one of the whaling companies in 1848, upon which he assumed the impressive title of 'master whaler'. He failed to retain the licence for the 1849 season and immediately petitioned Governor Fitzgerald for permission to establish a whaling station several kilometres north of Fremantle in what is now Sorrento. The petition was quickly granted and a shore whaling station was built on ten acres of leased crown land in 1849. Shore whaling involved rowing small shore-based chaser boats to intercept migrating whales. If the whaling crew was successful, they towed the dead whales back to shore for processing. The whaling station operated for three years. In 1852 it was permanently abandoned.
From the biographical entry for Marmion from Kimberly's 1897 History.
HON. WILLIAM EDWARD MARMION, M.L.A.
Fremantle gave birth to William Edward Marmion, and that centre has rightly received the best results of his life of public utility. He was born on 22nd October, 1845, and the son of Mr. Patrick Marmion, who for a number of years was engaged in active mercantile pursuits in the colony.
From the ADB entry for William Marmion by R.T. Appleyard, 1986:
William Edward Marmion (1845-1896), merchant and politician, was born on 22 October 1845 at Fremantle, Western Australia, son of Patrick Marmion (1815-1856), merchant, and his wife Charlotte Stone. Educated in Fremantle and Perth, he started work at 16. At 21 a master in the mercantile service, he began his own business at Fremantle, W. E. Marmion & Co.
References, Links, Acknowledgements
Kimberly, WB 1897, History of West Australia: A Narrative Of Her Past Together With Biographies Of Her Leading Men, Niven, Melbourne: 204-6. Available online from Wikisource.
ADB entry for William Marmion by R.T. Appleyard, 1986.
Thanks to Diane Oldman for the photo and text of the Marmion memorial to Patrick Marmion.
This page incorporates material from Garry Gillard's Freotopia website, that he started in 2014 and the contents of which he donated to Wikimedia Australia in 2024. The content was originally created on 6 July, 2020 and hosted at freotopia.org/people/marmionpatrick.html (it was last updated on 13 March, 2024). The donated data is also preserved in the Internet Archive's collection.