out the route to be followed, even sometimes deciding on it a day beforehand. In this way he had to show good generalship and use excellent judgment. It required bushcraft; moreover, it was a matter of colonial importance. He was fortunate in finding plenty of pasturage and water on the way to the Fortescue, where he arrived exactly three months after leaving Geraldine, after losing only eight sheep. The camp here was fixed on the site where Mr. David Stewart's station, Balmoral, now is. Mr. Hooley thereupon rode to Mr. Withnell's place, a distance of eighty-four miles, and brought shearers back with him. The sheep were shorn, and the wool sent by sea to Fremantle. Though Mr. Hooley had successfully accomplished this great overland trip, he did not "rest and rust." Shortly afterwards he, with his faithful black boy, Tommy, and a white man returned overland to Champion Bay on nearly the same route just opened up. The object of this trip was to take another flock of sheep up to the grant in the following winter. When he reached the settled districts he was everywhere received with hospitality, and on arrival at Perth was presented with a handsome chronometer and chain by appreciative settlers and friends. Mr Hooley still retains this graceful and appropriate souvenir, which is suitably inscribed. He then made another successful trip to his station with sheep.
In 1868 business called him to Victoria, and he rode from the Fortescue to Albany, a distance of 1,300 miles, to catch the mail steamer which then called there every month. This was quite a famous journey, but in those days Mr. Hooley was fit to undertake the most arduous labours, and his knowledge of Western Australian country was soon equal to that of the most travelled in our midst. He went to Victoria, transacted his business, and returned again to the colony with his young wife, who had been residing with her father. He now took up a large section of land on the Ashburton. Mr. and Mrs. Hooley lived 200 miles away from any white woman, and their nearest neighbour was 120 miles distant. After remaining there for a year Hooley relinquished the station, finding the blacks uncomfortably troublesome. These native tribes were exceedingly fierce and warlike, and in encounters with them Mr. Hooley lost three of his men. This so unnerved the remainder that Mr. Hooley was compelled to leave. Such are the difficulties which pioneers of the north-west country had to face. He now went to the Fortescue, where he remained twelve months. Price of wool at this time was very low, the hardship of the pioneers terrible, and Mr. Hooley retired from active pastoral pursuits to undertake the management of Messrs. Barker and Gull's extensive stock and station business at Guildford, and the supervision of their general merchant's enterprise. In addition he managed their station on the Williams River. His connection with the firm lasted nine years, during which he joined Mr. Mortimer New as proprietor of a sheep station on the Williams, situated 100 miles south-east of Perth. This venture proved fairly successful, but as the scope was limited Mr. Hooley again tried the north-west. With Mr. Mortimer New he started overland in 1881 for the Ashburton, taking 6,500 sheep, besides horses, waggons, and other requisites. Unfortunately they experienced a very bad season, and lost over 3,000 sheep on the journey. With the remainder they settled at Mount Hubert, at the junction of the Ashburton River and Duck Creek. Higher up the river they procured promising looking country, and eventually established the head station at Mount Mortimer. Their area here was 400,000 acres. In 1884 Mr. Hooley opened a cattle station on the Henry River, and then making his way to Guildford and Perth, he decided to reside in the latter place. Subsequently he managed the business of the late Mr. J. H. Monger, who for many years was known as one of the chief merchants in Western Australia. This old established house was in 1888 sold to Messrs. Dalgety and Co., and Mr. Hooley became manager of the local branch of that international house. He still retains that position, and he has to negotiate very important functions in the West Australian business world. Dalgety and Co. are large employers of labour, and hold immense interests in this colony, particularly in pastoral pursuits in the north-west. Thus the physical exertion and the mental anxiety of pioneer work are now put aside by Mr. Hooley, and he has taken his place as a leader of our commercial circles.
With his wide general knowledge of the resources of Western Australia, it was very natural that he should eventually enter public life. His first step in this direction was made in 1878 when he entered the Guildford Municipal Council. For some months he was acting-chairman, but resigned from the body owing to the call business made on his time. Then in 1881 local residents desired that he should have a seat in the Legislative Council and nominated him for the Swan district. He was duly elected to Parliament, defeating Mr. E. R. Brockman. But when he returned to the north-west, as already described, he resigned his seat. Then for some time he continued in private life. In 1891 Sir John Forrest appointed him a nominee member of the new Legislative Council. He remained in that House until 1894, when the population basis required by the Constitution Act demanded a wholly elective Upper House. He stood for one of the three seats in the Central Province, but was defeated by Messrs. Wittenoom, Henty, and McKernon. Shortly afterwards, however, Mr. E. F. Darlot retired from the Assembly, and Mr. Hooley was elected to fiI1 the vacancy thus caused for the Murchison district. In 1897 he was elected unopposed to the De Grey district.
As can be well supposed, Mr. Hooley is able to render the colony considerable assistance in the House, and his opinion meets with the respect of all colonists. He evinces an intelligent knowledge on all matters that come up for discussion. To some extent he has devoted a portion of his spare time to literature. He has contributed several useful articles to the local newspapers under the nom de plume of "Bucolic." He has also ventured into the realms of fiction, and published a novel, Tarragul, on bush life, which has met with generous criticism from Colonial and British newspapers.
In 1890 Mr Hooley was gazetted a Justice of the Peace. Naturally enough he is warmly interested in the affairs of agricultural societies, and when the Swan and the Western Australian Societies were amalgamated he became president, a position he again held when the body was allowed to use the dignified prefix "Royal." As a sportsman he has for some years been president of the West Australian Turf Club. Among other positions he holds in the commercial world, he is a director of the local branch of the Equitable Life Insurance Co., director of J. H. Monger and Co., Limited; and the Swan Brewery Co., Limited. He was a member of the Menzies Syndicate, and is now a director of the Lady Shenton Gold Mining Co. Mr. Hooley was married in 1861 to a daughter of the late Mr. John Hill Mayes, of county Down, Ireland. This sketch will give readers some idea of the important colonial career of Mr. Hooley. Primarily comes his excellent work in encouraging settlement in the north-west country. His different expeditions resulted in more knowledge being obtained of the resources of those lands, which, with his route from settled districts to those localities, undoubtedly caused their
