Henry Bull
Encyclopedia
Swan River Colony
The Swan River Colony was a British settlement established in 1829 on the Swan River, in Western Australia. The name was a pars pro toto for Western Australia. In 1832, the colony was officially renamed Western Australia, when the colony's founding Lieutenant-Governor, Captain James Stirling,...
.
He entered the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
in December 1813, and served in the West Indies and South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
. He retired as a Lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
in 1829, and the following year he arrived in Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
. He took up land grants
Land grants in the Swan River Colony
The Swan River Colony, established in June 1829, was the only British colony in Australia established on the basis of land grants to settlers. Under the conditions stipulated by the Colonial Office, settlers would be granted land in proportion to the value of assets and labour that they brought to...
on the Canning River
Canning River (Western Australia)
The Canning River is a major tributary of the Swan River in south western Western Australia.-Source and route:With headwaters on the Darling Scarp, the Canning meanders through suburbs of Perth on the Swan Coastal Plain, including Cannington, Thornlie, Riverton, Shelley, Rossmoyne and Mount...
in the area now known as Bull Creek
Bull Creek, Western Australia
Bull Creek is a suburb of Perth, Western Australia, located within the local government area of City of Melville.-History:The name was adopted by the City of Melville Council in December 1968. The creek was named after an early settler, Lt Henry Bull to whom a grant of 1.20 km² of nearby land...
; and he was one of the pioneer settlers of the Upper Swan
Upper Swan, Western Australia
Upper Swan is a suburb of Perth, Western Australia, located in the City of Swan local government area.It contains Upper Swan Primary School....
district, with land in what is now the suburb of Bullsbrook
Bullsbrook, Western Australia
Bullsbrook is a suburb of Perth, Western Australia in the outer metropolitan area. It is located with the City of Swan. The original Bullsbrook townsite is located slightly west of the current town, on the 17 km mark of the Midland Railway...
.
Bull was the local magistrate
Magistrate
A magistrate is an officer of the state; in modern usage the term usually refers to a judge or prosecutor. This was not always the case; in ancient Rome, a magistratus was one of the highest government officers and possessed both judicial and executive powers. Today, in common law systems, a...
of the Upper Swan district for many years. He and George Fletcher Moore
George Fletcher Moore
George Fletcher Moore was a prominent early settler in colonial Western Australia, and "one [of] the key figures in early Western Australia's ruling elite"...
are credited with the establishment and maintenance of friendly relations with the indigenous
Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....
people of the area.
In April 1835, Bull accompanied Moore on an expedition to the north of the Swan River
Swan River (Western Australia)
The Swan River estuary flows through the city of Perth, in the south west of Western Australia. Its lower reaches are relatively wide and deep, with few constrictions, while the upper reaches are usually quite narrow and shallow....
. The following year he was appointed temporary captain of the colonial schooner
Schooner
A schooner is a type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts with the forward mast being no taller than the rear masts....
Champion, which had just been purchased. In 1838 he was Government Resident at Bunbury
Bunbury, Western Australia
The port city of Bunbury is the third largest city in Western Australia after the State Capital Perth and Mandurah. It is situated south of Perth's central business district...
, and he was a Member of the Executive Council in 1841. In 1848 he appointed agents to manage his affairs and apparently left the colony. He is thought to have died shortly afterwards.