He formally took possession of the adjacent country, and remained there some days, making a careful survey of both the inner and outer harbours.
On the 9th of December, 1826, Sir Ralph Darling, then Governor of New South Wales, sent Major Lockyer, of the 57th, with a detachment of the 39th, a regiment intimately associated with the early settlement of Australia, to form a settlement at King George's Sound, where they landed on the 25th of December of the same year.

This settlement was established in order to forestall the French, who, according to rumour, intended to occupy the harbour and adjacent lands.
On the 17th of January, 1827, Captain James Stirling, of H.M.S.

Success, left Sydney, intending to survey those portions of the west coast unvisited by Lieutenant King, and also to investigate the nature of the country in the neighbourhood of the Swan River with a view to its suitability for settlement.

Stirling was accompanied by Charles Fraser, who had considerable experience as adviser upon Australian sites for settlement.

Both Stirling and Fraser reported favourably on the Swan River; and the latter waxing enthusiastic on its eligibility, it was decided to found a new colony there.
In 1829, Captain Fremantle of H.M.S.Challenger hoisted the British flag at the mouth of the Swan River, and thenceforth the whole of the Australian continent was under British sway.