
Although a small military contingent set up camp at Albany in 1826, the first permanent residents did not settle there until 1831. The first WA settlers arrived in the Swan River Colony, which was to become Perth, in 1829. They were free settlers who were required to show that they had ‘improved’ their land before being granted title. However, beyond the immediate margins of the Swan River, the soil proved poor and the colony struggled for some decades. More