Nathaniel Lipscombe Kentish was appointed government surveyor in Van Diemen's Land in 1841. In 1842 he, with a gang of approximately 20 parole men, was instructed to survey a road from Deloraine westward to the North West Coast through lands used by the Van Diemen's Land Company. They started from Kimberley pushing through dense dark undergrowth in very wet conditions and were very discouraged by what they saw.
One morning, however, one of their party, a probationer known as “Old Bill” checked his snares and found tracks of good sized kangaroos. Following them, he suddenly came out of the bush and discovered open plains. As was appropriate, he carved “August Plains, 1st August 1842” on a tree, then hurried back to tell Kentish of the discovery.
They explored the plains together for the rest of the day and Kentish wrote glowing reports.
Surveyor Kentish first named the area, August Plains, to commemorate the date they were discovered. The name was later changed to the Kentish Plains after the surveyor himself. Then later again to Kentishbury, and still later it was shortened to Kentish. |
