Fort Dundas was a short-lived British settlement on Melville Island between 1824 and 1828 in what is now the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory shares its borders with Western Aust ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

. It was the first of four British settlement attempts in northern Australia before Goyder's survey and establishment of Palmerston, now known as Darwin. The three later attempts were at Fort Wellington,

Port Essington Port Essington is an inlet and historic site located on the Cobourg Peninsula in the Garig Gunak Barlu National Park in Australia's Northern Territory. It was the site of an early attempt at British settlement, but now exists only as a remo ...

and

Escape Cliffs Escape Cliffs is a place on the northern coast of the Northern Territory of Australia and the site of the fourth of a series of four failed attempts to establish permanent settlement in Australia's Top End. The previous attempts were at Fort ...

Establishment

Captain J. J. Gordon Bremer set sail on from

Port Jackson Port Jackson, consisting of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove and Parramatta Rivers, is the ria or natural harbour of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The harbour is an inlet of the Tasman S ...

on the 24 August 1824 to colonise the northern part of Australia. His ship was accompanied by , and . The ships transported Captain Maurie Barlow, Lieutenant

John Septimus Roe John Septimus Roe (8 May 1797 – 28 May 1878) was the first Surveyor-General of Western Australia. He was a renowned explorer, a member of Western Australia's legislative and executive councils for nearly 40 years, but also a participant in ...

, Lieutenant Everard and 23 men of the 3rd Regiment, a subaltern and 26 men of the Royal Marine, a surgeon, three commissariat workers, three free men seeking adventure and 44 convicts. The construction of a settlement began upon arrival on 27 September 1824. It was officially proclaimed on 21 October 1824, on Trafalgar Day. It was named Fort Dundas and was named after Robert Dundas, the

First Lord of the Admiralty The First Lord of the Admiralty, or formally the Office of the First Lord of the Admiralty, was the political head of the English and later British Royal Navy. He was the government's senior adviser on all naval affairs, responsible for the di ...

. The intention was to commence and develop trade with the Malays. During the first two years, the settlers never saw a Malay. Furthermore, the settlers had not been able to penetrate more than into the island's interior "due to the hostility of the nativesbeing in the most savage state of barbarism, and all attempts to conciliate them proving abortive"; such was the report to the British people. The establishment of the settlement caused the border of

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

to be moved west from the 135th meridian to the

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 t ...

n border ( 129th meridian). Captain Bremer was relieved by a Scot, Major John Campbell in 1827. Campbell's party was the first to include women. The first European marriage in the Northern Territory occurred shortly after at the fort. In his party was the wife of Lieutenant Hicks, who died shortly after.

Tiwi resistance

The Tiwi put up strong resistance to the new settlers on their land. There was no contact between the colonisers and the indigenous people of the

Tiwi Islands The Tiwi Islands ( tiw, Ratuati Irara meaning "two islands") are part of the Northern Territory, Australia, to the north of Darwin adjoining the Timor Sea. They comprise Melville Island, Bathurst Island, and nine smaller uninhabited islands, w ...

, the

Tiwi people The Tiwi people (or Tunuvivi) are one of the many Aboriginal groups of Australia. Nearly 2,000 Tiwi people live on Bathurst and Melville Islands, which make up the Tiwi Islands, lying about from Darwin. The Tiwi language is a language isola ...

, during the first few weeks of the settlement. Bremer noted that the first recorded meetings occurred on 25 October 1824. Exploring a small river on Bathurst Island across the strait from the settlement, Bremer came into contact with a party of ten Tiwi men. Bremer described them as initially defensive and aggressive, calming down upon the presentation of gifts:

After some time they gained confidence and came so near as to take a
handkerchief A handkerchief (; also called a hankie or, historically, a handkercher or a ) is a form of a kerchief or bandanna, typically a hemmed square of thin fabric which can be carried in the pocket or handbag for personal hygiene purposes such as wi ...
and other trifles we put towards them on an oar... having given them all the boat afforded I left them apparently well satisfied.

On the same day two convicts were seized but not injured. The Tiwi retreated when troops appeared on the scene, taking the convicts’ axes with them. Bremer suspected the Islanders had been watching the settlements for some time and saw the valuable metal and tools. Attacks on the fort became regular, "sometimes daily". Two people were speared to death including the fort's surgeon, Dr Gold. He was discovered with 31 spear wounds. Seven spear heads remained in his body. One had passed through his head "from ear to ear". The storekeeper John Green had 17 spear wounds and his skull was smashed open.

Abandonment

Bad relations with the Tiwi people, tropical storms, isolation and low food and medical supplies caused Campbell to request that the post be closed and the garrison taken away from "this vile island". He was relieved by Captain Humphrey Hartley, but orders were received shortly after to abandon the fort in late 1828. The last of the settlers left by April 1829. One soldier could not be found and was left behind, with his wife and family sailing without him. South Australian governor Lord Kintore later declared Bremer's selection of Fort Dundas as ill-suited and "never satisfactorily explained".

Excavations and recent history

3rd Regiment Shako Plate from Fort Dundas

Remnants of the fort were visible in 1895, nearly 70 years after the fort's closure. The moat and stonework from a building, thought to be a church, were present as were grave sites. There were several visitors to the site in the early 1900s, who observed the remains of earthworks, part of a stone wharf, a building, and retaining walls, and noted that the once-cleared hillside had regenerated. A commemoration event was held in Darwin in 1924, a century after the abandonment of the fort. In 1938 relics of uniforms worn at Fort Dundas were found during a medical survey of Melville Island. They were donated to the Mitchell Library at the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...

in 1972. In 1939, original stones were retrieved from Fort Dundas and used to construct a memorial to the early settlement at Darwin's garrison which was unveiled in 1945. Also in 1939, mobile patrol units were established at the fort aimed at preventing trespassing on Aboriginal reserves. A 49-day excavation was completed in 1975, which mapped and documented the condition of site. Artefacts were found including a glass bottle and a 3rd Regiment brass badge or 'Shako Plate' which are now held at the

Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory The Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (MAGNT) is the main museum in the Northern Territory. The museum is located in the inner Darwin suburb of Fannie Bay. The MAGNT is governed by the Board of the Museum and Art Gallery of the ...

in Fannie Bay in Darwin. The final report recommended an ongoing research program of the site.

References

External links

List of grave at Fort Dundas cemetery
{{coord, 11, 24, 18, S, 130, 25, 02, E, display=title, region:AU-NT_type:landmark History of the Northern Territory Tiwi Islands 1824 establishments in Australia 1828 disestablishments