Shell Song was commissioned by the Presbyterian Ladies’ College Perth in 2013 for the junior choirs. It was the schools first adventure into commissioning choral music and led to the creation of a new school anthem composed by Paul in 2015. The piece is written about the first European female, Charlotte Davis, who set foot on Western Australia in the early 1800’s and the legacy she has left the state.
Extracts from ‘A Passenger on the Parmelia’ – by Lyn Coy (a descendant)
“Charlotte Davis, aged 2, is claimed to be the first white female to set foot on the Swan River Colony in Western Australia. Charlotte was carried ashore by a sailor and set afoot on the uninviting land on 1 June 1829. My ancestors, the Davis family, sailed with Captain James Stirling on the ship Parmelia for the new colony of Swan River, Western Australia from Plymouth in England.”
“On 1 June 1829 fate was unkind and the Parmelia struck a sandbank. Orders were quickly given to lighten the load so 28 women and children, families of the artificers, were loaded onto Carnac Island with the heavy stores. Among them was two-year-old Charlotte Davis. A sailor carried her ashore and set her down making her the first of her sex to touch the strange new land. The next five days brought incessant rain and gale to the castaways, leaving them to survive the elements. Charlotte survived and became an early pioneer of the state.”
Sample recording courtesy from the Hunter Singers 25th Anniversary concert.