Charles Macfaull (1800 – 13 Dec 1846) was an early settler in the

Swan River Colony The Swan River Colony, also known as the Swan River Settlement, or just ''Swan River'', was a British colony established in 1829 on the Swan River, in Western Australia. This initial settlement place on the Swan River was soon named Perth, an ...

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

. He arrived in 1830, and is credited with having planted the colony's first vineyard, using vines brought from the

Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( ) is a rocky headland on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A List of common misconceptions#Geography, common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Afri ...

. He worked as the colony's

postmaster A postmaster is the head of an individual post office, responsible for all postal activities in a specific post office. When a postmaster is responsible for an entire mail distribution organization (usually sponsored by a national government), ...

, and in 1833 established its first successful newspaper, the ''Perth Gazette and Western Australian Times'', which survives today as ''

The West Australian ''The West Australian'' is the only locally edited daily newspaper published in Perth, Western Australia. It is owned by Seven West Media (SWM), as is the state's other major newspaper, ''The Sunday Times''. It is the second-oldest continuousl ...

''. The original printing press, a tiny Ruthven press that was used to prepare the first paper, is currently housed in the

Western Australian Museum The Western Australian Museum is a statutory body, statutory authority within the Culture and the Arts Portfolio, established under the ''Museum Act 1969''. The museum has six main sites. The state museum, WA Museum Boola Bardip, is located i ...

. He was the subject of the first book printed in Western Australia. Entitled ''A report of the late trial for libel !!! : Clarke versus Macfaul, 4 September 1835'', it gives William Nairne Clark's account of the successful libel suit against Macfaull. William Narine Clark was a competing publisher to Macfaull. The text concerns a court settlement in favour of a Captain Clark, of the vessel ''Skerne'', whose seamanship had been questioned in the pages of the ''Perth Gazette''. A letter of apology was refused by Clark and the court's determination found the publication was slanderous in their comments on the captain and the proprietor Charles Macfaull was ordered to pay £21 in damages. The work has been noted by academic

Geoffrey Bolton Geoffrey Curgenven Bolton (5 November 1931 – 3 September 2015) was an Australian historian, academic and writer. Life He attended Wesley College, Perth from 1943 to 1947. He published works on Australian history, authoring 13 books, his fina ...

and others as the first publication in Western Australia. Macfaull died on 13 December 1846 in

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

. He was survived by his wife, Elizabeth, who took on the ongoing role of publishing the ''Perth Gazette''.

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References

1800 births 1846 deaths Settlers of Western Australia 19th-century Australian newspaper publishers (people) 19th-century Australian journalists 19th-century Australian male writers Australian male journalists {{WesternAustralia-stub