Robert Menli Lyon

Robert Menli Lyon (* 1789 in Inverness, Scotland, † after 1863) was an early British settlers, who settled in Western Australia. He was one of the first, fights for the rights of the indigenous people of Australia and to actively care for their welfare. Lyon was the first to publish the information about the language of the Aborigines in the region around Perth.

Robert Menli Lyon was born as Robert Milne. About his life little is known reliable. It is believed that he belonged to the British army, where he was promoted to the rank of "Captain ". He emigrated in 1829, at the age of about forty years, to Australia. It is unknown why he took the name Robert Menli Lyon in Australia.

Lyon traveled very widely about in the settlement area and put emphasis on a friendly interaction with the there wandering Aborigines. The Noongar warrior Yagan, who was accused of murdering a white man, he successfully defended by pointing out that Yagan defending his homeland against white settlement and therefore to be treated not as a criminal but as a prisoner of war.