Swan River Settlement
James Stirling
Exploration by Land
After five days on the river, Stirling was forced to stop because the water had become too shallow. He made a base camp, then set out to explore the surrounding countryside. one of the first trips was to a series of hills which Stirling named General Darling's Range. From there the exploring group could see all the way to the sea.
Stirling had with him Charles Frazer, the government botanist from Sydney. Frazer collected many new plant specimens. He was most impressed with what he found. In his report, he claimed that the soil in the area was better than that of Sydney.
On their way back to the Success, the party found some Aborigines fishing at night by torchlight. They appeared quite friendly, and Stirling decided the race as a whole was not warlike. This too was a good point in favour of setting up a colony.