Hanson visited Western Australia in the early years of the colony and wrote of his experinces in a pamphlet or letter, excerpts of which were published in The Perth Gazette and Western Australian Journal over three issues in January 1833. The Perth Gazette and Western Australian Journal 1(1) 12 January 1833: 7, descibed Hanson as the 'Quarter Master General in Madras' (Chennai) India.
He probably arrived in the colony late in 1831, perhaps on the voyage out to India, as he writes in an excerpt that he is 'the first even to bring the intelligence to Captain Stirling, that he was promoted from Lieutenant Governor, to be Governor and Commander in Chief of Western Australia.' The Australian Dictionary of Biography entry for Stirling states that Stirling's promotion was in November 1831, 'after the tardy arrival of the official documents constituting his office and appointing him to it...'. Hanson was in Perth at the time of the establishment of the town of York, Western Australia. The first settlers arrived in York, 16 September 1831. According to the pamphlet Hanson seems to have spent about two months in the colony and probably departed at the end of 1831 or early 1832. The original pamphlet or letter is untraced.
