George Fletcher Moore

Who was 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". He conducted a number of exploring expeditions; was responsible for one of the earliest published records of the language of the Australian Aborigines of the Perth area; and was the author of Diary of Ten Years Eventful Life of an Early Settler in Western Australia.

George Fletcher Moore was born on 17 December 1798 at Bond's Glen, Donemana, County Tyrone in Ireland. He was educated at Foyle College in Derry, and at Trinity College in Dublin. He graduated in law in 1820, and spent the next six years at the Irish Bar, but seeing little prospect of advancement he decided to pursue a judicial career in the colonies. Moore enquired at the Colonial Office after an official posting to the recently established Swan River Colony in Western Australia, but was told that such appointments were the responsibility of the Governor of Western Australia, Sir James Stirling, and could not be guaranteed by the Colonial Office. However the Colonial Office promised him a letter of introduction should he choose to emigrate.