Course of the River
The course of the Mitchell River was shown on Easton’s map of his route and first appeared on public plans as an amendment.
Naming of the River
Government surveyor William Easton discovered this river in July 1921 during his exploration of the North West Kimberley,
“In the vicinity of Mt Bradshaw, we left the Moran River, and travelled Northerley through splendidly grassed basaltic country for about 16 miles, at which point we struck a large stream flowing in a North Westerley direction.”
Easton later recorded the name, most likely after Sir James Mitchell, Premier and Minister for Lands at the time of the expedition.
Sir James Mitchell (1866-1951) was born near Bunbury, the son of William Bedford and Caroline nee Morgan. Before entering politics Mitchell was a bank manager and farmer. In 1888 he married Clara Robinson Spencer. They had three sons and a daughter. Mitchell entered parliament in 1905 as a Liberal and changed to the Nationals in 1917. He was the Premier of Western Australia from 1919 to 1933. He was knighted in 1921. At the end of his parliamentary career (he is the only serving Premier to lose his seat at a parliamentary election) he was appointed Lieutenant Governor, a position in which he served until 1946. There was no Governor during this period.
Mitchell then became Governor and remained in the position until just before his death.
Mitchell is one of only two men who has two rivers in Western Australia named him (the other being P.P. King).
The second Mitchell River is near Mount Barker in the South of the State. The northern section of Perth’s metropolitan freeway is also named after Sir James Mitchell.
The course of the Mitchell River was shown on Easton’s map of his route and first appeared on public plans as an amendment.
The Mitchell Falls, 23 kilometres from the mouth of the river, are a series of three sheer falls with a combined height of 80 metres. As the river falls over the edge of the Mitchell Plateau it forms the second highest falls in Western Australia.