Albany, Australia Hotels, Vacations, Tourism

In 1826, two years before the establishment of the Swan River Colony, the British sent Major Lockyer and a team of hopeful colonists to settle the strategic Princess Royal Harbour . It was a pre-emptive response to French exploration of Australia's Southwest, and the small colony, originally called Fredrickstown, was allowed to grow at a natural pace – avoiding the vicissitudes of Swan River Mania that plagued Perth in the 1880s, when thousands of starry-eyed colonists poured into the shanty town. Prior to the building of Fremantle Harbour in the 1890s, ALBANY was a key port on the route from England to … more »