The Tanner Letters

William Tanner (1801-1845) married Hester Viveash in 1829, and in 1831 they immigrated to Swan Lake, northwest of what came to be Perth, Western Australia. The Tanners remained at Swan Lake (aside from a visit to England in 1835-1838) until 1844, when they withdrew to England in January 1844. William Tanner's sister Ellen married Charles Videash, and they immigrated in 1831 to Tasmania, Australia. The letters home to England from William and Ellen show the contrast in the two areas, particularly since Swan Lake was the first colony to be established in Australia exclusively for private capitalists and had such a difficult initial development primarily because of lack of money capital--(P. xv).