On July 15, when WA Police Commissioner Chris Dawson is sworn in as the 34th Governor of WA he will have the 1876 bible from a Busselton colonial pioneer.
Last month the Busselton Historical Society received a letter from Commissioner Dawson, requesting to use the Bible which belonged to Elijah Dawson.
The Commissioner is the great great grandson of the pioneer and as part of his farewell tour he visited Busselton to personally collect the artifact.
"If I'm going to swear an oath, I may as well do it on this bible because of the massive historical significance," he said.
"It pays tribute to not just the Dawsons but to everyone who opened up the land here and the Wadandi people, through all the very difficult years.
"It's quite a significant opportunity for me to pay respect to our forebears that did those hard yards and now with gratitude to have this bible on loan and it will come back to this great museum.
"It's really important we don't forget our history because those that follows us will have a better linkage to people who sacrificed and did it tough so we could enjoy the fruit of their labour."
According to the Busselton Historical Society, the leather bound Bible was purchased by Elijah Dawson in 1876 and was used by the Dawson family to record all family births, weddings and deaths up to 1968.
Elijah was born in the UK in 1797 and joined the military at the age of 17.
After impressing his captain in the battle for Waterloo and the Irish rebellion, he sailed with the Molloy family for the Swan River Settlement in 1829.
If I'm going to swear an oath, I may as well do it on this bible because of the massive historical significance
- WA Police Commissioner Chris Dawson
Governor Stirling requested Elijah and the Molloy family to venture to the new land of the South West, where Augusta was settled in 1830.
Elijah worked with the Molloys on their holdings at Augusta until 1834 when Molloy requested Elijah to accompany the Bussells on an expedition to the Vasse District.
In 1835 Captain Molloy, appointed Elijah the first Police Constable to the Vasse and Dawson held this position until at least 1855.