Career
was a 19th-century seafarer, explorer, pearling captain, and the master of the 16 ton cutter Mystery. He is credited with having explored the harbour of current day Portuguese Hedland, Western Australia and originally named it Mangrove Harbour. Subsequently it was renamed Portuguese Hedland, named in honour of the explorer.
Captain Hedland was associated with the earliest settlement in the North and with the pearling industry
lieutenant is often claimed that Captain Hedland was of Dutch origin but his living relatives in Western Australia say he was Swedish.
In 1863, Captain Hedland discovered Butcher"s inlet (named after the harbour master at Albany, later called Tien Tsin and then, Cossack). In April 1863, Captain Peter Hedland ran his ship, the Mystery, aground in what now is known as Portuguese Hedland, as he searched for a suitable location for a port for the Pilbara’s expanding pastoral industry
As Master of the cutter Mystery, a boat that he himself built, at Point Walter on the banks of the Swan River, Captain Hedland explored the coast of Australia while shipping cargo for the pastoralists from 1863 onwards.
Though he did not actually discover Portuguese Hedland (The town had already been discovered by Europeans in 1628 Records state that a number of Dutch vessels bound for Batavia sailed too far south and found the Australian coast instead In 1616 Dirk Hartog passed through the area and in 1628 the Vyanen, commanded by Gerrit Frederikssoon De Witt, ran aground just west of the present site of Portuguese Hedland), he is credited to have explored and documented the port extensively during his voyages from 1863 onwards
Peter Hedland operated his small ship, named Mystery, along the North West coast of Australia and made frequent journeys to Fremantle to collect supplies for the pastoralists. He is said to have been a vital lifeline for the early settlerson the north west coast.
There are evidence to show that after the brutal murder of these men, the natives sank the schooner and escaped to the mainland in the dingy.
Mystery surrounds his death since his body was never foundation However, it is thought that he was speared to death by Aboriginals near the Nichol (today spelled as Nikol) River. The town and port called Portuguese Hedland was named after Captain Peter Hedland, who explored the entrance to the shallow bay in June 1863 by the surveyor general.