Daniel Scott

Daniel Scott (1800 – 20 February 1865) was a Western Australian harbour-master. Originally from Liverpool, England, he moved to the newly established Swan River Colony in 1829. Scott was the first chair of the Fremantle Town Trust in 1848. In addition to his civic and harbour duties, he was involved with launching a number of enterprises in early Western Australia, including the first whaling business, the first ship builders (he built the first large ship from local timber), and a lead mining business.

Life Scott was born in Liverpool to Janet ( Campbell) the second wife of Daniel Scott, a flag maker. The son went away to sea and was mentioned by the Royal Humane Society after rescuing three men in a boat. Scott was given a grant of on the Swan River by the British government instead of any pay or pension owing. Seven months after his arrival on , Scott married Frances Harriet Davis.

Whaling In 1837, Scott made substantial investment in the Fremantle Whaling Company, which established a whaling station at Bathers Beach at the entrance to Fremantle Harbour. His co-investors included the Fremantle merchant John Bateman. Scott's Fremantle Whaling Company paid for a tunnel to be dug under the Round House prison by the prisoners. This tunnel went beneath the prison and linked Bathers Beach to the High Street in Fremantle.

Scott rented this station in the 1840s for whaling. He was the captain of a whaler Napoleon when it set out in 1842. This ship was owned by Scott and a syndicate in Liverpool. Napoleon left Australia for England in 1844. Scott was lucky to find a replacement when another barque called the Merope was driven ashore and it and all her whaling equipment were sold to Scott. The Merope did set out whaling but the business does not appear to have been driven hard.

The whaling company ceased trading in 1850. The convicts that had arrived on used Scott's warehouse as their only home until Captain Henderson and the convicts had constructed their own convict establishment. Convicts would continue to arrive in Fremantle until 1868. Scott negotiated a rental of the wool warehouse for five years at £250 a year, although it was agreed that improvements could be made in lieu of rent up to a value of £1000.

Scott was a leading light in Fremantle where he became the first chair of the town's Town Trust in 1848. He was a keen supporter of the Church of England and underwrote the building of the first church,

Retirement In 1851 he resigned his position as harbour-master, a position he still held despite all of his commercial and municipal responsibilities. He was noted for using his own boats on colonial business but an injury to his arm made him relinquish this task and "retire". By 1864 he had formed the Geraldton Mining and Smelting Company to mine lead, but his own death a year later meant that the company did not thrive. Scott died in Fremantle on 20 February 1865. Scott and his daughter occupy two of the graves featured in Fremantle Cemetery's Historical Walk Trail.

As part of the WAY '79 celebrations in 1979, 150 plaques were laid along St Georges Terrace in Perth, each commemorating an important Western Australian. Scott was chosen to be associated with the year 1850, the year that he made his warehouse available to house convicts.

The land where Scott's first warehouse became a temporary prison for convicts is now the location of the Esplanade Hotel.