Francis Armstrong

Early life

Armstrong was born around 1813 in Dalkeith, Scotland. He died on 22 May 1897 Perth, Western Australia. He was the eldest son of Captain Adam Armstrong. On 15 December 1829, Armstrong arrived in the Swan River Colony aboard Gilmore from Dalkeith with his father, four brothers and sister (his mother had died in Scotland). The family settled on the banks of the River Swan between Perth and Fremantle and named the locality Dalkeith after their home village in Scotland. While Armstrong helped with the work associated with establishing themselves he met and befriended a number of the local natives. He felt strongly attracted to these indigenous people and at once set out to learn something of their customs and language.

A little later Armstrong went to work in Perth for George Fletcher Moore, who kept a small store. Then, for a number of years, he managed a store for George Shenton in St George's Terrace. Still later, he entered into business for himself as a grain and produce and commission agent. From this business and several others he ventured into he acquired sufficient wealth to give him a modest retirement.

Methodism and interactions with Aboriginal people

The young Armstrong was associated with the Tranby Methodists and helped to establish the first Methodist congregation in Western Australia.

Armstrong never forgot his early contact with the local Aboriginal people and it became his overriding ambition to do all he could to improve their lot. He became proficient in the Nyungar language that he eventually wrote or assisted in writing two books translating some of its dialects into English. Before either government or church interest was stirred to the plight of Aboriginal people, Armstrong was seeking to improve their circumstances and better their lives. At the age of 21, Armstrong was appointed the official "Government Interpreter and Moral Agent" for Aboriginal people on a salary of £90 a year.

In 1841, Governor John Hutt the governor granted to the Methodists an annual subsidy of £75 to help establish a mission for the Aboriginal people at Perth, on the foreshore near Mount's Bay. It was to Francis and Mary Armstrong, that the Rev. John Smithies, the first minister of Wesley Church entrusted the superintendency of this mission. The Methodist Aboriginal Mission, under the supervision of Armstrong, baptised a number of Aboriginal people at Wesley Church .

Hutt later asked Armstrong to investigate the treatment of Aboriginal prisoners at the prison on Rottnest Island. In spite of a previous enquiry, complaints of the treatment meted out to Aboriginal prisoners continued to come to the governor's ears. Armstrong reported: "It is refusal to work that brings on the punishment they complain of. This has been with the worst characters some of them who have robbed the store, killed the poultry and run off into the bush ... The number of strips [lashes] is limited to 36, and I would respectfully suggest that it might he reduced to half that number and that only in extreme cases and immediately under the direction of Mr Vincent." However complaints about Rottnest continued and Armstrong was involved in yet another enquiry. For a short period after that he served as Storekeeper and Moral Agent on the island, and was directed "to improve the habits and morals of the prisoners". Vincent, the Superintendent of the prison, would not cooperate with Armstrong, who was soon transferred back to Perth.

Armstrong was a lay leader in Wesley Church and was also associated in the founding of the first Methodist Sunday school in the colony. Armstrong also worked for the cause of temperance and other Methodist causes.

He died in 1897, after suffering from influenza.

Personal life

In 1836, he married Mary Mews, second daughter of T W Mews. Mary was a devout Anglican and like her husband was greatly interested in the welfare of the local aboriginal peoples. They had four sons and five daughters.