Edmund Lockyer

Edmund Lockyer ( born January 21, 1784 in Plymouth, Devon, England; † June 10, 1860 in Woolloomooloo, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia) was a British soldier and explorer in Australia.

Early years

Edmund Lockyer was the son of Thomas Lockyer, a sailmaker, and his wife Ann, née Grose. Lockyer met in June 1803 in the Army in 1805 to lieutenant, promoted to Captain and Major in August 1819 in the same year.

In Galle, Ceylon (Sri Lanka) he married on August 12, 1806 Agatha Young, who died in Ceylon on 13 September 1816. On October 6, 1816, he married Sarah Morris.

Australia

Lockyer came in April 1825 in the military order with his wife and ten children in Sydney.

In August 1825 he was commissioned to explore the upper Brisbane River. On September 7, he arrived in Brisbane and took a small boat up the river. He came twice as far as the explorer John Oxley on the Brisbane River. He discovered the Stanley River and a large, near-surface coal deposits at Ipswich, the first one that was found in Australia. On October 16, 1825, he returned to Sydney and refunded Governor Sir Thomas Brisbane 's account of his exploration.

The British were worried that the French could build a business in the territory of present-day Western Australia and settle. Therefore, Governor Ralph Darling Edmund Lockyer gave the order to forestall them. Lockyer sailed on 9 November 1826 the brig Amity with 23 convicts, 20 soldiers and Lieutenant Festing to King George Sound, which he reached on December 25 in 1826. With his staff, he built up the military base Fredericktown, the first settlement by Europeans in what is now Western Australia, later to become Albany. From two sealers that he arrested for acts of violence against Aboriginal Lockyer learned that the French South Pacific and Arctic explorer Jules Dumont d' Urville had already in November 1826 explored the sound. For the February 1827 Lockyer was planning an expedition to the Swan River, gave this project on, however, when he learned that James Stirling had already explored this territory. He handed over the military base at Captain Wakefield and when he returned in April 1827 to Sydney, he resigned his military service and settled in Sydney.

On the land on which he settled and Lockyersleigh called, he ran cattle industry with little success. As iron was discovered on his land, he built the first iron foundry in Australia. He became involved in politics and served in various posts in the public administration. In the Legislative Council of New South Wales, he was appointed in 1856 a gentleman Usher of the Black Rod.

His second wife Sarah died on 11 July 1853, and on 18 November 1854 he married Eliza Colston ( Coulson ).

Aftermath

Ermington, a suburb of Sydney, is named after one built by his estate. In Albany, he is recognized as the founder of the city and erected a memorial. The Lockyer Creek Lockyer National Park, the Lockyer Valley and the Lockyer Valley region of Queensland bear his name.