Pioneers
Welcome to our Pioneers series dedicated to the settlers of Western Australia. The caches are located on a rarely used bike track between Henderson and Naval Base passing close to Mt Brown. The track is a bitumen surface and provides about 5 kms of smooth riding and is the only way to complete this series.
Warning!!
Some of the Pioneer caches are near restricted areas due to unexploded ordinance (artillery shells etc...), we have placed these caches in areas outside the warning areas.
***** Please don't try to come across by road to individual caches for your own safety. *****
Lionel and William Samson
Arrived on the Calista in August 1829 at the fledgling Swan River Colony only two months after the arrival of the founding party led by Lieutenant Governor Captain James Stirling. The Samson brothers were from a wealthy London family of English Jewry, with Lionel being born in 1789 and William in 1803. Each settler was entitled to a grant of 40 acres for each 3 pounds sterling of capital brought into the colony. Lionel received a grant of 4696 acres on the Upper Swan in the vicinity of Henley Brook. On 5th September 1829, Lionel purchased Fremantle town lots at the first land sale. William was appointed Government Auctioneer for no specific term and this office passed to Lionel in 1835, and finally to the firm of Lionel Samson and Son. This appointment terminated in 1900. The spirit license was finally issued to Lionel Samson and has been renewed since its introduction. Lionel also held the position of Postmaster of Fremantle until 1832. Lionel moved to Perth Town, on the corner of St George's Terrace and Barrack Street in 1839 leaving William in charge at Fremantle.
William married in 1840 to Elizabeth Mary Pace and Lionel married Fanny Levi on his return visit to England in 1842. Members of the Levi family returned with the newly weds to Australia with the Levi's travelling on to Adelaide. Philip Levi became a successful businessman and owned large grazing properties in South Australia. William settled in S.A. in 1846 and the partnership was dissolved. He ran an auctioneer's business until his death in 1880. Lionel continued to trade in Perth, but returned to Fremantle in 1852. In 1853 he was elected Chairman of the first Western Australian Chamber of Commerce. Lionel formed a partnership with Michael in 1867, the company becoming Lionel Samson and Son. William, the younger son joined the company in 1877, before his father died in 1878.
Today, Lionel Samson & Son is the oldest continuing family business in Australia with a range of business interests in industrial packaging, heavy woven bulk bags, flexitanks for moving liquid in containers, wine and beer wholesale distribution, and the proud owner of a major winery; Plantagenet Wines, with vineyard operations based in Mt Barker, the Great Southern of Western Australia. Its sister companies are Sadleirs Transport and Sadleirs International, national transport and international freight forwarding companies also owned by the family.