Places/matildabay.html
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Matilda Bay
Matilda Bay (Goodroo) is the most common present name of Currie's Bay, Sutherland Bay, and Crawley Bay - all referring to the same long, open bay that stretches all the way from Pelican Point (Point Currie) to Mount Eliza. The current name is believed to derive from that of the wife of John Septimus Roe, Matilda (née Bennett).
Wikipedia:
Captain Mark Currie was the first colonial owner of the 32-acre (130,000 m2) estate surrounding the bay, at that time known as Currie's Bay. Pelican Point was then known as Point Currie. The estate was sold in 1832 to the Assistant Surveyor and Colonial Treasurer, Henry Charles Sutherland for ₤100. Sutherland named the property Crawley Park after his mother's maiden name and the bay became known as Sutherland's Bay. In 1876 Crawley Park was sold to Sir George Shenton, and the bay was known generally as Crawley Bay. (Wikipedia)
At the eastern end of the bay, near Mount Eliza, the government in 1851 established a convict depot. Nearby there had been a steam mill, which was acquired by the government after its failure, and used to accommodate convicts. Its site was where the Swan Brewery was later established, and now remains, tho no longer a brewery. At the easternmost end of that area is the Kennedy Fountain (named for a governor), marking a place which was an early source of fresh water.
References and Links
Lyon, Robert Menli [Robert Lyon Milne] 1833, ‘A glance at the manners and language of the Aboriginal inhabitants of Western Australia with a short vocabulary’, Perth Gazette and Western Australian Journal, 30 March 1833: 52. The second part [of four?] of the article was published in Perth Gazette and Western Australian Journal, 20 April 1833: 63-4, and is the source for the name 'Goodroo' above. Many of the first people's names for places are known from this source.
Stephens, Robert 1950, 'A sweet spot in an old Colonial Garden: the historical background of the site of the University of Western Australia', Early Days, Vol. 4, Part 2: 27-47.
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 27 June, 2018 and hosted at freotopia.org/places/matildabay.html (it was last updated on 17 April, 2024). The donated data is also preserved in the Internet Archive's collection.