James Harding

James Harding (1838 – 13 November 1864) was a pastoralist and explorer in colonial Western Australia. While exploring in the Kimberley region of Western Australia in 1864, he was murdered by Australian Aborigines. Born in England in 1838, James Harding emigrated to Western Australia with his family on the Dromo in 1846. He went to England again in 1848 but returned to Western Australia in 1850. In 1859 he was farming at York with Charles Wittenoom. In April 1861, Harding volunteered to join an exploring expedition to the Pilbara region of Western Australia, under Francis Gregory. The five month long expedition discovered large amounts of poor pastoral land around the De Grey River. In 1864, an expedition to Camden Harbour was undertaken...