The diary of

George Fletcher Moore George Fletcher Moore (10 December 1798 – 30 December 1886) was a prominent early settler in colonial Western Australia, and "one fthe key figures in early Western Australia's ruling elite" (Cameron, 2000). He conducted a number of exploring ...

is an important record of early colonial life in

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 ...

, because it is one of a few records that were written from the point of view of an ordinary colonist, as opposed to the official correspondence of a salaried public official. Tom Stannage describes the diary as "an immensely valuable social document" and "the best published guide we have to life in

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 ...

between 1830 and 1840."

Background

Moore was an Irish lawyer who settled 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 ...

in 1830, the colony's second year. He describes his decision to keep a journal as follows: Moore's handwritten diary for the period from 1834 to 1841 is extant, and is held by the

State Library of Western Australia The State Library of Western Australia is a research, education, reference and public lending library located in the Perth Cultural Centre in Perth, Western Australia. It is a portfolio agency of the Western Australia Department of Local Gover ...

Editions

Portions of Moore's letters and diary have been published a number of times. The letters from 1830 to mid-1833 were published in 1834 as ''Extracts from the Letters and Journals of George Fletcher Moore, now filling a judicial office at the Swan River Settlement''. Publication was at the request of Moore's father Joseph, and may have been without George Fletcher Moore's knowledge. In the early 1880s, Moore's letters fell into the hands of Sir Thomas Cockburn Campbell, editor of ''

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 ...

'' newspaper. Cockburn Campbell sought and received Moore's permission to publish them in ''The West''. The letters appeared in serial during 1881 and 1882, and a copy of each issue was sent to Moore, who kept a scrapbook of them. In 1884, Moore decided to publish them afresh, together with a reprint of his 1842 '' A Descriptive Vocabulary of the Language of the Aboriginals''. These were published under the title ''Diary of Ten Years Eventful Life of an Early Settler in Western Australia''. Commonly referred to by the shorter title ''Diary of Ten Years'', this is the best known edition of Moore's diary. In 2006,

Hesperian Press Hesperian Press is a locally owned and operated book publisher located in Perth, Western Australia. Peter Bridge first published technical material in 1969. The business of Hesperian Press in its current format started in 1979. The Press republ ...

issued a version of Moore's diary and letters carefully edited and annotated by James Cameron under the title ''The Millendon Memoirs: George Fletcher Moore's Western Australian Diaries and Letters, 1830-1841''.

References

{{reflist Books about Western Australia Diaries History of Western Australia