With the arrival of the convict ship "Scindian" on 1 June 1850 and the advent of convict labour, early completion of the Perth–Albany road seemed assured. Investigations of a direct route via Kelmscott, Hotham, Williams and Kojonup began in late 1851. Assistant Surveyor A. C. Gregory reported in 1852 that the direct route would be shorter than the route via Bunbury, and shorter than the York route. Construction was recommended in late 1852, after the mail contractor George Maxwell completed a journey along the proposed route in September, and soon commenced. had been completed by October 1853, and the whole road was finished in 1863.