Emma Withnell

Emma Mary Withnell (née Hancock; 19 December 1842 – 16 May 1928), was the first white and female settler in north west Western Australia; a pioneering pastoralist and businessperson.

A member of the Hancock family, later prominent in Western Australia, Emma Hancock was born at Guildford, Western Australia. She and her husband, John Withnell (1825–98), began operating a pastoral lease – Mount Welcome station, on the Harding River in 1864. The station homestead became the site of the first town in the north west, Roebourne.