340 NORTHMOST AUSTRALIA 



BOWEN, the first Governor of the new colony of Queensland, 

 PROPOSED, on his arrival at Brisbane on 23rd October, 1862, from 

 a voyage of investigation with H.M.S. " Pioneer " (in the course of 

 which, by the way, he found the stores on Booby Island " in good 

 condition "), the establishment of a SETTLEMENT (to be named after 

 the Duke of Somerset) ON ALBANY ISLAND, " on account of its 

 geographical importance, as harbour of refuge, coaling station and 

 entrepot for the trade of Torres Straits and the North Pacific." l 

 The approval of the Imperial and the Queensland Governments 

 was given at once, and MR. JOHN JARDINE, who was then Police 

 Magistrate and Gold Commissioner at Rockhampton, was appointed 

 GOVERNMENT RESIDENT and sent, in 1863, to establish the new 

 settlement. He decided on a site on the mainland opposite the 

 island. 



SOMERSET, besides the uses pointed out by Sir George Bowen, 

 was also to be a sanatorium " for the people who were j^ust then 

 rushing to the Gulf country to take up land," and in this respect 

 was to supersede the establishment on Sweer's Island (east of the 

 larger Bentinck Island). 



The QUEENSLAND GOVERNMENT contributed ^5,000 and the 

 IMPERIAL GOVERNMENT 7,000, besides sending a detachment of 

 twenty-five MARINES under command of LIEUTENANT PASCOE, and 

 accompanied by DR. T. J. HARAN as Medical Officer, who landed 

 on 25th March, 1863. 



The official " FOUNDATION " of the settlement took place on 

 2ist August, 1864, when H.M.S. " Salamander" CAPTAIN THE HON. 

 J. CARNEGIE, visited it on behalf of the Imperial Government. For 

 some time, the " Salamander" and afterwards the " Virago" 

 made three trips per annum from Sydney to Somerset for the 

 provisioning and protection of the settlement. 



The IMPERIAL BUILDINGS consisted of barracks and hospital, 

 which were mainly erected by the marines. They have long ago 

 disappeared, and their site is covered with scrub. The COLONIAL 

 BUILDINGS (which included a custom house) were on the site 

 occupied by Frank Jardine's residence until his death in March, 

 1919. 



The necessity for the establishment may be gauged from the 

 record of the year 1866, during which forty men, being the CREWS 

 OF THREE WRECKED SHIPS, were taken south by the " Salamander" 

 Regarding other years, no records are available, but I have seen 

 frequent references by travellers (e.g., James Dick) to meetings 

 with shipwrecked mariners waiting at Somerset for ships to take 

 them off. 



JOHN JARDINE, the first Resident, held the office till the end of 



1 At this time, the only habitation in the neighbourhood was the b&che de mer station 

 belonging to Captain Edwards, of the " Blue Bell," situated at Frederick Point (the 

 north western cape of Albany Island). Its buildings comprised a stone curing-house 

 and a store. (Douglas, Past and Present of Thursday Island and Torres Strait, p. 9.) 



