This 978 ton ship was built at Moulmein in 1853. It was employed as a convict transport for Western Australia and left Portland, England on November 10, 1860 bound for the Swan River Colony. She carried the twenty third of 37 shipments of male convicts destined for Western Australia. The voyage took 93 days and the Palmerston arrived in Fremantle on February 11, 1861 with 106 passengers and 293 convicts [Erickson]. J.N. Seagrove and A. Watson were the captain and surgeon respectively.

The three deaths recorded on the convict shipping and description lists were for Michael Herring (5614), Richard Handy (5649) and Dennis Fanning (5673) and other sources say they died on the voyage out. There were 296 convict numbers assigned for the voyage ranging from (5586 to 5881) and the [Bateson] account also agreed that 296 convicts embarked and 293 arrived.

Of the 106 passengers mentioned above, 99 were pensioner guards and their families, the number being made up of 30 pensioner guards, 20 wives, 30 sons and 19 daughters. The other 7 passengers have not been accounted for but were possibly cabin passengers or regular soldiers.

A copy of William Irwin's journal for the voyage is preserved in the Mitchell Library in Sydney, New South Wales. Researchers can only view it in Sydney.