Naval officer, surveyor and explorer. J. S. Roe was appointed a midshipman in the British Navy on 27 May, 1813. He passed examinations in mathematics and navigation in 1817 and was posted as master's mate to the surveying service in New South Wales, arriving in September of that year. Roe surveyed the eastern coast of Australia in three separate journeys before returning to England in May, 1823. From 1824 to 1827 Roe sailed again to New South Wales and his ship served in the Indian Ocean off the coasts of Africa, Arabia and the Indian subcontinent.
On his return to England in 1827, Roe accepted the post of surveyor-general for the Swan River colony, Western Australia, arriving on the Parmelia in 1829. As well as his surveying of the new town of Perth, Western Australia, and his extensive exploration of the state, Roe founded the Swan River Mechanics' Institute, Perth's first cultural centre. His collection of botany, zoology and mineralogy laid the foundations of the Perth Museum.
Malcolm Uren in his biography of Roe, published in the Australian Dictionary of Biography, writes: 'At school Roe formed the habit of writing to his parents lengthy letters about his doings and his thoughts and he continued to be a devoted diarist throughout his life ... He left records of sixteen journeys of exploration ... One of the last entries in his diary read: "I have not been an idle man in my generation".'
Source: Malcolm Uren, 'Roe, John Septimus (1797 - 1878)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 2, Melbourne University Press, 1967, pp 390-392.
