The first task of the administrators was to find a site for the principal town. A location on the Swan River was selected and on 12 August Helen Dance, wife of Captain William Dance of , ceremoniously cut a tree to mark the foundation of Perth. Currie was present at the ceremony and later the same day took up his duties, at a salary of 100 pounds, as the first Harbour Master of Fremantle, responsible for pilotage and services at the port. A tent was erected "for the despatch of business" on the site chosen for the town. This was to provide offices for the Colonial Secretary, the Surveyor General, the Harbour Master, the Civil Engineer and the Commissioners of the Board of Counsel and Audit. However, later that year, Currie decided it would be more convenient to make his office as Harbour Master and Postmaster on board the wreck of the "Marquis of Anglesea", which had been swept ashore in a gale on 23 August 1829. The wreck is visible in Jane Currie's "Panorama of the Swan River Settlement".