Port Essington
Port Essington, also Victoria or New Victoria, was a settlement founded in 1838 by the British on the Cobourg Peninsula on the north coast of Australia. The area is now part of Garig - Gunak - Barlu National Park.
History
Even before the founding of Port Essingtons there had been in the 1820s on the part of the British Empire attempts to build on the territory of the Northern Territory some points in order to trade with the inhabitants of the Indonesian island of world trade can and prevent other colonial powers, which also claims to to raise the Australian continent. Mainly the second reason it was that persuaded the British government to send two ships with a company of marines under the command of Sir James J. Gordon Bremer.
For the establishment of the settlements they had brought seven prefabricated wooden houses, which were built after the arduous clearing the site, however; even then, the construction of the houses, however, was only possible on wooden piles due to the rocky soil. In addition, the soldiers built a defensive wall and even a mole.
Just one month later, the settlers had a ship to the Dutch possession on the island Kisar send, to provide themselves with food there. On February 1, 1839 a ship to the nearest European settlement, the Portuguese went to Dili Timor and brought back water buffalo, Timor ponies and some English newspapers to Port Essington. Two weeks later, Bremer visited the Portuguese colony and assured from the local governor Frederico Leão Cabreira more help for the new settlement due to the old alliance between the two colonial powers. For the Portuguese, this meant an additional support against the expansion pressure by the Dutch in the region.
In November 1839, a large part of the settlement was already destroyed again by a hurricane. It also lying at that time in the harbor HMS Pelorus, whose crew therefore had to spend the next year in Port Essington sank. Among them there were also some brickmakers, which enabled the construction of new buildings on brick or stone foundations. So could be built until 1842 a camp house, several furnaces and a forge. A major problem for the settlers were also the termites destroyed the last two buildings, which had spared the hurricane.
End of 1844 a group of carpenters and masons arrived in the settlement. They erected a lighthouse in the harbor, the other accommodation for the soldiers and their families and a second forge. Despite these enhancements Port Essington was but already in decline. Agriculture and livestock were not profitable due to the unfamiliar climate and unfavorable conditions for farm animals; also put the malaria settlers hard to. Until the dissolution of the military base in 1849 60 of the 200 settlers died. Despite the very good relations between the British and the Aborigines with whom brisk bartering system was used, Port Essington had to be abandoned due to lack of support from the motherland after a severe malaria epidemic in 1849. The area around the harbor has since no longer inhabited, but the ruins of the settlement are still present.
On December 17, 1845 Ludwig Leichhardt Port Essington reached for the first time on the overland route from Brisbane.
Gallery
Port Essington in 1845