SW Copley

En 1888 se mudó a Fremantle , Australia Occidental, donde trabajó como barbero y estanquero durante dos años, y en 1890 fundó un negocio de apuestas ^{[ 7 ] y préstamos de dinero, [ 8 ]} en Fremantle y Perth.

Se asoció con Joseph Charles ^{[ b ]} y su South Perth Ferry Company ^{[ c ]} algún tiempo antes de 1898, ^{[ 12 ]} cuando su nuevo ferry de paletas a vapor Duchess fue construido por la firma de Perth W. & S. Lawrence ^{[ 13 ]} para unirse a su Princess , ^{[ 14 ]} Countess y Queen (anteriormente llamado Empress ). En 1903 Copley se convirtió en el único propietario del negocio. En 1910 Princess fue subastado. ^{[ 15 ]} El gobierno adquirió la compañía alrededor de 1912.

He was involved with William Britnall^[16] in the subdivision of Chatsworth Estate to form the Perth suburb of Highgate Hill,^[17] now Highgate. In 1900 with Ben Copley^[4] and James Patterson (died 11 July 1924), he purchased the Ord River cattle station, which in 1912 they sold to the Vestey brothers for £250,000. Also in 1900, in conjunction with R. T. Robinson, Copley and his brother purchased 730 acres (300 ha) of the Mount Lawley estate which they sub-divided into quarter-acre blocks, yielding a vast profit^[18] and incidentally triggering Perth's building boom which began around 1905.^[17] In 1900 he purchased 40,000 acres (16,000 ha) at Upper Swan, Western Australia, which he developed as a sheep and cattle station with some 300 acres (120 ha) of high-class vineyards for the dried grape market.^[17] In 1900 he purchased 60,000 acres (24,000 ha) at Baker's Hill, from which he harvested many thousand tons of wandoo timber.^[17]

In 1912 Copley was forced by the government to sell the ferry company, by cancelling its contract for use of the government wharves.^[19] Copley had sold his fine house at Mount Lawley^[20] after the government compulsorily acquired the ferry company's docklands, and in September 1913 he left for England.^[21]