Charles Wedge (1810–1895) was a

surveyor Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. A land surveying professional is ca ...

and

explorer Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians. Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...

of the

North-West The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, Radius, radially arrayed compass directions (or Azimuth#In navigation, azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east ...

regions of

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. Wedge was born in

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and North ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

; he was the eldest son of Edward Davy Wedge and a nephew of

John Helder Wedge John Helder Wedge (1793 – 22 November 1872) was a surveyor, explorer and politician in Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania, Australia).G. H. Stancombe'Wedge, John Helder (1793 - 1872), Australian Dictionary of Biography, Online Edition Wedge was ...

. In 1824, he emigrated to the Colony of

Van Diemens Land Van Diemen's Land was the colonial name of the island of Tasmania used by the British during the European exploration of Australia in the 19th century. A British settlement was established in Van Diemen's Land in 1803 before it became a sepa ...

(later Tasmania) with his father, uncle and cousin, John Charles Darke. Charles Wedge worked initially as an assistant government surveyor with the Survey Department in Van Diemen's Land. He resigned in 1836, to work with John Helder Wedge on a

sheep station A sheep station is a large property ( station, the equivalent of a ranch) in Australia or New Zealand, whose main activity is the raising of sheep for their wool and/or meat. In Australia, sheep stations are usually in the south-east or sout ...

in the

Port Phillip District The Port Phillip District was an administrative division of the Colony of New South Wales from 9 September 1836 until 1 July 1851, when it was separated from New South Wales and became the Colony of Victoria. In September 1836, NSW Colonial Sec ...

(later the Colony of Victoria). Charles Wedge managed the family's property at

Werribee Werribee is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Wyndham local government area. Werribee recorded a population of 50,027 at the 2021 census. Werribee i ...

and then established a sheep station in the Western District of

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

. In a letter to Governor Charles Latrobe in 1853 he complained of the troubles with Tjapwurrung aboriginals attacking shepherds and driving away flocks of sheep, to which Wedge wrote:

"these depredations did not cease till many lives were sacrificed, and, I may say, many thousands of sheep destroyed".

In the mid-1860s, he became a shareholder in the Denison Plains Pastoral Company (often referred to as the Denison Plains Association), which was founded with the intention of settling in North-West Australia on the Denison Plains (a remote area in what would be known later as the south-east Kimberley). Following the failure of the Denison Plains scheme, Wedge was employed at Roebourne as a Western Australian government surveyor. Among other projects, in 1866 the

Government Resident A resident minister, or resident for short, is a government official required to take up permanent residence in another country. A representative of his government, he officially has diplomatic functions which are often seen as a form of indir ...

Robert John Sholl Robert John Sholl (16 July 1819 – 19 June 1886) was a government administrator, magistrate, explorer, journalist, entrepreneur, harbourmaster, customs official, postmaster and lay reader in Western Australia (WA), during the colonial era. ...

tasked Wedge with finding a suitable harbour in the

Port Hedland A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ham ...

area, to encourage and service settlement further north, in areas such as the

De Grey River The De Grey River is a river located in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. It was named on 16 August 1861 by the explorer and surveyor Francis Gregory after Thomas de Grey, 2nd Earl de Grey, who was at the time the president of the Royal ...

. The natural harbour of Port Hedland itself was already considered unsuitable, due to the thick

mangroves A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evolution in several ...

. Following heavy, unseasonal rain and swollen tidal creeks, Wedge was unable to reach the harbour itself or find another site. 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." He also felt that the deep sand and lack of wood for building made the area unsuitable. The Port Hedland light

industrial estate An industrial park (also known as industrial estate, trading estate) is an area zoned and planned for the purpose of industrial development. An industrial park can be thought of as a more "heavyweight" version of a business park or office park, ...

Wedgefield, Western Australia Wedgefield is an industrial area in Western Australia's Pilbara region, off Great Northern Highway 2 km north of South Hedland, and was gazetted in 1973. It contains a variety of light and service industry premises, and also supports a sm ...

was named after Wedge.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wedge, Charles Explorers of Australia 1810 births 1895 deaths