Charles Wedge

For the English farmer, see Charles Wedge of Shudy Camps.

Charles Wedge was a surveyor and explorer of the North West of Western Australia. He was the eldest son of Edward Davy Wedge and the nephew of John Helder Wedge, with whom he arrived, together with his cousin John Charles Darke in 1824 in Van Diemens Land. From 1826 he was an Assistant Surveyor with the Survey Department in Van Diemen's Land, resigning in 1836 to follow his uncle John Helder Wedge to the newly established settlement in the Port Phillip District.

In Port Phillip Charles Wedge managed the Wedge's sheep station at Werribee and then established a sheep station in the Western District of Victoria.

He was a member of the "Denison Plains Association", a group of Victorians that made an unsuccessful bid to settle in the North West of Western Australia.[1]

Later under direction from Government Resident Robert John Sholl, Wedge was given the task of exploring Port Hedland as an alternative port since, although Roebourne was chosen for a settlement, Roebourne's distance from the coast was found to be a disadvantage. Wedge encountered difficulties in his efforts, as he was hampered by heavy rain and the tidal creeks around Mangrove Harbour and was unable to reach the proposed port site to survey its suitability.[2][3]

Wedge reported, "Independently of the Port being difficult of access from the land sides, the want of a natural supply of water must always be a serious impediment to its being made available as a shipping port."[4] He also felt that the deep sand and lack of wood for building made the land very inferior. It is evident that his bad report meant that the development of Port Hedland was dropped until about 1891.

The Port Hedland industrial suburb of Wedgefield is named in his honour.

References

  1. ↑ "Denison Plains Association". The Inquirer & Commercial News. 10 May 1865. p. 2. Retrieved 19 Dec 2013.
  2. ↑ "Nicol Bay". The Inquirer & Commercial News. 3 August 1866. p. 3. Retrieved 19 Dec 2013.
  3. ↑ "Exploration". The Inquirer & Commercial News. 8 August 1866. p. 2. Retrieved 19 Dec 2013.
  4. ↑ Letter from Wedge reprinted in The Perth Gazette and West Australian Times, Friday 3 August 1866, page 3, under the heading "Nicol Bay". (Online via the National Library of Australia.)


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