About Us | Albany Historical Society

About Us

Find out more about the Albany Historical Society.

Albany became the first settlement in Western Australia, known in its early days as Frederickstown, with the arrival of Major Edmund Lockyer with a contingent of convicts, soldiers, a surgeon and a storekeeper in the Brig Amity on Christmas Day, 1826.

Today Albany is a thriving regional centre and popular tourist destination, boasting many wonderful, well preserved buildings from earlier times; so well preserved in fact that they are still in use today.

Albany Historical Society is the proud custodian of Two of these treasures, maintaining them on a voluntary basis and inviting the public to come and visit our past.

Founded in 1962, Albany Historical Society is a non-profit organisation, affiliated with the Royal Western Australian Historical Society and staffed entirely by volunteers.

Volunteer With Us

The Albany Historical Society is always looking for volunteers. Click here to find out more!

The AHS Museum Collection

Information about the Historical Society’s large collection.

Arriving at King George’s Sound on 25^th of December 1826, Lockyer landed ashore early the next morning and commenced a survey of the area. On the 30^th of December his troops and prisoners were disembarked. They immediately began setting up a camp and landing their stores. On the 21^st of January 1827 (Lockyer’s birthday), as instructed by the Colonial Secretary, the Union Jack was raised and a feu de joie was fired by the troops, formally annexing the territory, in assertion of the first official claim by the Imperial Government to British possession over the entire continent of Australia. This saw the creation of the first site of European settlement in Western Australia.