1855. In March of that year the steamer Les Trois Amis arrived from Melbourne and began to ply between Perth and Fremantle. A colonial-built steamer was previously used in this trade, but proved a failure. In order to safeguard the running of these boats different schemes were still being proposed to deepen the Swan. In 1855 the official intentions were to deepen the channel from the sea to Rocky Bay by 12 feet to a width of 90 feet. The cost was estimated at £6,600, of which £1,800 was for blasting the bar at the mouth of the river. Another proposal was made concurrent with this to erect a breakwater off Arthur Head to secure an area of 38 acres from all storms, with 13 acres sheltered from all sea breezes. The length of the breakwater was to be 880 yards, the depth of anchorage 15 to 20 feet; the cost of material was estimated at £15,000.
In November, 1856, another steamer—the Shanghai—was placed on the river trade; then in January, 1857, the Pioneer, a steamer built of colonial wood, ran to Guildford. In February the Lady Stirling (steamer) was launched at Fremantle. The steam mail service between the United Kingdom and Australia and Singapore was abandoned for a time in 1855-6. In 1856 the P. and O. Company offered to convey mails to Australia from Ceylon. The postal revenue of the colonies was computed to total £36,000, of which only £24,000 could be applied to sea service. Terms were eventually agreed upon for a direct service, and in October, 1856, the first steamer left England, the number of days allowed between Southampton and Melbourne being about 50. The contract was for five years. The steamers Oneida, European, Columbian, and Australian were, among others, engaged in the service. A meeting was held in Perth in February, 1858, to propose that Sulphur Bay or Careening Bay, Garden Island, be used by steamers as a coaling station. Further difficulties arose in the mail service, but were satisfactorily arranged in 1859. The Western Australian subsidy to this service in 1859 was £1,151.
The various religious denominations were gradually becoming stronger and more important. In 1850 the Church of England in Western Australia was erected into a separate archdeaconry; in 1856 it was constituted by letters patent a bishopric, and Perth a cathedral town, "thereafter to be called the City of Perth." The first Bishop of Perth, Archdeacon Hale, M.A., arrived in the colony in July, 1856. He was nominated by Bishop Short, of South Australia, whose archdeacon he had been from the foundation of the South Australian bishopric. Bishop Hale had visited Western Australia on more than one occasion, and had married the daughter of Colonel Molloy, well known at Augusta and the Vasse. Some time previously Bishop Hale founded a station at Poonindie, South Australia, where he conducted a mission among the natives. After visiting different parts of Western Australia he proceeded to England, where he was consecrated in March, 1857, and returned in January, 1858, having engaged five additional clergymen and a schoolmaster. On 28th June, 1858, the Bishop's School, Perth, was opened with twenty-three scholars, the Rev. Mr. Lynch acting as head master. The Rev. George Pownall, B.A., who had spent six years in ministerial work in the colony, was appointed Dean of Perth; the Rev. Jas. Brown, M.A., a Government chaplain, was appointed archdeacon. The bishop erected a comfortable abode on a site given by the Government, and side by side clergy lodgings for clergy visiting Perth who could ill afford the expenses of an inn. Later on Bishop Hale established on the same block a mission home for native and half-caste children.
Other denominations were quietly extending their sphere of influence. In May, 1859, Perth town lot Y37, consisting of 3 roods 20 perches, was granted to the Congregational Church. In March of the same year the foundation-stone of the Roman Catholic Church at York was laid by Bishop Serra.
Some difficulty was experienced with the Education Board in 1855. The Government disagreed with the system of instruction pursued, and the members of the board resigned. A new board was appointed early in 1856. In February, 1854, Mr. L. Courthope was appointed Secretary of Education.
The natives in Victoria district did not at once discontinue their opposition to settlement. It was announced in November, 1855, that Police-Constable Melson had been killed and eaten by natives on the Murchison. While travelling through the bush Melson is said to have wandered off the beaten track. He was set upon by the blacks with clubs and spears. Another man, named Robson, was missed under similar circumstances some time previously. In 1856 natives proved troublesome to the isolated settlers east of York, and at Cubbin an attempt was made to spear a shepherd. Then in 1858-9 numerous cattle and a few horses were speared in the Champion Bay district, and in 1859 a shepherd, employed by Mr. W. Burges, on the Murchison, was speared for taking away the wife of a black man. The Registrar-General, in his report for 1859, announces that the aboriginal race "is gradually disappearing." The blacks acquire "many of the white man's bad habits and but few of his good ones; the immorality of their women is habitual, and to this latter fact is mainly attributable the decrease in numbers."
In 1855 Rottnest Island was again used as a penal establishment for native offenders. The average number incarcerated there in 1855-6 was thirty. In February, 1856, a stack of hay, the gaol, and other buildings at Rottnest were burnt. Some natives had escaped from the prison and hidden in the bush. The superintendent, to dislodge them, set fire to the dry growth, and a change in the wind carried the flames to the buildings. The loss was estimated to be about £500. Farming and other industries were again established on the island; in 1857 the produce from the farm was sold for £429. The Wesleyan native school, which had been removed from Wanneroo (near Perth) to York, was closed; the total-cost of this institution had been about £12,000.
Death was busy among the older colonists. The ranks of the pioneers were constantly being thinned, and men familiar to public regard were one by one disappearing. First was Mr. B. W. Vigors, a young lawyer of promise, who died in March, 1854. The Rev. J. B. Wittenoom, colonial chaplain, died on 23rd January, 1855. Since 1829 he had been constantly to the front, not only in Church affairs, but in public and in the work-a-day life. In his own way he rendered valuable assistance to the pioneers, and even on occasion toiled among them. Weld Club stands in the place where his residence was situated. On the 27th of the February following died H. C. Sutherland, a pioneer of the Parmelia. During the first few years Mr. Sutherland was engaged in the Survey Department, but some time before his death he took office as Colonial Treasurer and Collector of Revenue. He was associated with the Government during its first twenty-six years' history, and latterly held a seat in the Executive and Legislative Councils. Archdeacon Wollaston died in 1856.
On the 13th May, 1858, died A.J.P. Menzies, a prominent landholder on the Upper Greenough, and he was followed
