Peter

Henry Wildman (born 1838, date of death unknown) was a convict, transported to Western Australia in 1862, whose apparently false claims to have found gold in the Kimberley region of Western Australia prompted an exploring expedition to the area.

Henry Wildman was born in 1838. Nothing is known of his early life, except that he was a literate protestant labourer. According to convict records, he was sentenced to 18 years penal transportation on March 18, 1862, although some contemporary newspapers state that he was sentenced to 15 years in 1861. Wildman arrived in Western Australia on the Lord Dalhousie on 28 December 1863.

Two days after his arrival, the Inquirer published Wildman's claim to have found gold in the Kimberley region. Wildman claimed that in 1856 he had been first mate on a Dutch ship, the Maria Augusta, sailing from Rotterdam to Java, when it was forced to stop in Camden Harbour for rudder repairs. He then allegedly explored up a river, where he found gold nuggets to the value of £416, which he later sold at Liverpool.

Wildman offered to lead a party to the area, in return for a remission of his sentence. In response to this, an exploring expedition to the area was launched, under the leadership of Frederick Panter. The Camden Harbour expedition sailed from Fremantle on March 2, 1864. On arrival at Camden Harbour, Wildman became sullen and hostile, refusing to give any further information about the location of the gold. In his journal of the expedition, Panter mentions Wildman having an epileptic fit, and reports having him put in irons for insolent conduct. Wildman later tried to escape, but was unsuccessful. No gold was found, but the expedition found good land that was later settled.

Little else is known of Wildman's life. He is known to have completed his sentence, and is thought to have then left Western Australia, but neither the date nor his destination are known.

References

• Battye, James Sykes (1924). Western Australia: A History from its Discovery to the Inauguration of the Commonwealth. Oxford University Press, London.
• Forrest, Kay (1996). The Challenge and the Chance: The Colonisation and Settlement of North West Australia 1861–1914. Hesperian Press, Victoria Park, Western Australia. ISBN 0859052176.
• Erickson, Rica and Gilliam O'Mara (1994). Convicts in Western Australia, 1850–1887. University of Western Australia Perth, Nedlands, Western Australia. ISBN 1875560440.
• Uren, Malcolm (1946). Research Note 39, State Library of Western Australia.