“ Whereas divers of His Majesty’s subjects have by the licence and consent of His Majesty effected a settlement upon certain wild and unoccupied lands on the western coast of New Holland and the islands adjacent which settlements have received and are known by the name of Western Australia. And whereas it is necessary to make some temporary provision for the civil government of the said settlement until the said undertaking shall be further matured and the number of colonists in the said settlements increased. ”