Swan River is a river in Western Australia. It flows through Perth and into the Indian Ocean at Fremantle. It is known as the Avon for about the first 200 miles (320 kilometers) of its course. Only the last 40-mile (64-kilometer) stretch of the river is called the Swan. The fertile Avon Valley is an agricultural area. Chief towns in the valley include Northam and York.
Aboriginal peoples have lived near the Swan River for thousands of years. Stone tools found on the banks of the Swan River in Midland are about 38,000 years old. In 1697, the Dutch explorer Willem de Vlamingh sighted the Swan River. He called it the Black Swan River because of the black swans there. The French navigator Nicolas Baudin led an expedition that explored the Swan River region in 1801. In 1827, the British navigator James Stirling recommended the Swan River as the site for a new, free colony. The British government agreed to grant Thomas Peel, a London businessman, a large plot of Australian land on the condition that he encourage free settlers to migrate to the colony. In 1829, the Swan River settlement became the first colonial settlement in Western Australia. It included the sites of Perth and Fremantle.
The Swan River is part of the Swan Coastal Plain, an area on the west coast of Western Australia that has a diverse range of plants and animals. Many species of birds can be found along the Swan River, including famous black swans and pelicans. The Swan River is also home to bottlenose dolphins and many species of fish, including bull sharks.
