Naming of the Ashburton River

The Ashburton River was named by surveyor/explorer Francis T. Gregory, leader of the North West Australian Exploring Expedition in June 1861 after William Bingham Baring, 2nd Baron Ashburton (1799-1864), who held the office of President of the Geographical Society from 1860 to 1864.

From Gregory’s journal: ‘

“Naming it the Ashburton, after the noble President of the Royal Geographical Society, we quitted its verdant banks and took a south course up a stony ravine, …”.

The Ashburton River was formerly named the Curlew River at its mouth by Commander Phillip Parker King, RN of HMC Mermaid in 1818.

From King’s journal:

“Pelicans and curlews were very numerous, particularly the latter, in consequence of which the inlet was called Curlew River”.

However, well before King applied his name to the river the crew of the Dutch East India Company ship Mauritius encountered the west Australian coastline in 1618, and mapped a river they named Willems River, after the commander of the expedition Willem Janszoon. It was one of the few features named on a nautical chart made in 1627.

Sources:
P.P. King, Narrative of a Survey of the Intertropical and Western Coasts of Australia, vol. 1, John Murray, London, 1827, p.31. However, the more readily-accessible facsimile edition published in 2012 by The Friends of the State Library of South Australia is the actual publication that was sighted.
A.C. & F.T. Gregory, Journals of Australia Explorations, James C. Beal, Government Printer, Brisbane, 1884. However, the more readily-accessible facsimile edition published by Hesperian Press in 1980 is the actual publication that was sighted.

 

© (this format) Kim Epton 2025
285 words.

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