Lieutenant Robert Dale (1810–20 July 1853) was the first European explorer to cross the Darling Range in Western Australia. Robert Dale was born in Winchester, England in November 1810, son of Major Thurston Dale and Helen Matthews. Through the influence of his great-uncle General , on 25 October 1827 he was appointed an ensign in the British Army's 63rd Regiment of Foot. In February 1829 Dale embarked for Western Australia on HMS Sulphur as part of a detachment of troops commanded by Captain Frederick Chidley Irwin. On arrival at the colony, he was seconded as an assistant to Surveyor General John Septimus Roe, whose Survey Department was suffering under an extreme workload. Dale spent four years with the Survey Department, surveying, clearing roads and exploring. He was the first Europea