Barrow arrived in Western Australia on 2 January 1840 on the Westmoreland. Very quickly after his arrival, Barrow was appointed as a magistrate and as a Guardian of Aborigines in York.
York
Barrow took up residence near Bland's Brook in Bland's Town and was fortunate to secure the close friendship of the resident magistrate, Rivett Henry Bland. Barrow was involved in the formation of the York Agricultural Society on 3 August 1840, becoming its first secretary and treasurer. However, Barrow came under the displeasure of certain of the members so that he was forced to resign before the first show was held. A Church was constructed in York which could accommodate 100 people and Barrow read church services, and on one occasion he is reported to have delivered a "capital sermon".
Guardian of Aborigines
As Guardian of Aborigines, Barrow reported on 31 March 1841: To quote McLaren and Cooper: Barrow published an advertisement about the cow: "A report having gone abroad that a cow had been speared, killed and eaten by natives in the neighbourhood of Addington, I beg leave, through the public press, to contradict the report, inasmuch as the same cow is now alive and well at Addington Farm. I am informed however that suspicions are entertained that a spear was thrown at it." A year before Barrow's arrival at York, two aborigines had been hanged near York at the site of where they had murdered Sarah Cook and her baby daughter. In 1841, their bodies were still hanging at the site and Barrow commented: "The execution of the two natives, Barrabong and Doojeep, for the murder of Mrs Cook, appears to have had the most beneficial effect: their bodies are still hanging in chains, a terror to evil doers." In Barrow's June 1841 report as Protector of Aborigines, he reported that in the northern and southern extremes of his territory, the Aboriginal tribes were not so peaceably disposed as those who are more directly in the heart of the settlement. He also refers to having "native constables".
School
Barrow offered to teach gratuitously any children that were sent to him, but he only had two students, the families in the York district being so spread out, with most children being taught by their parents or a tutor. In April 1841, the "indefatigable" Barrow devised an ambitious plan to use his five room home as an international school, named Wallingford Classical and Mathematical Academy, teaching "the classics, mathematics, geography, polite literature and the rudiments of the Eastern languages." He published an advertisement aimed at "educating the rising generations of Western Australians" and also courting the hope of inducing families resident in India to send their children there, instead of to England." Fees were £100 a year. In the advertisement, he named as instructors John Burdett Wittenoom, Reverend Mears, Henry Maxwell Lefroy and himself, and Viveash as medical officer. A month later, Barrow published an advertisement saying "in consequence of unforeseen obstacles, Wallingford Academy will not be opened until further notice." Barrow then advertised his house to let for three to seven years.
Later life
On 3 September 1841, Barrow gave notice that he intended to leave the colony, and he sold his home to Bland. He left the colony on 7 October, bound for Singapore. Barrow became British vice-consul at Caen,, then of Rabat and Sallee in Morocco, then in 1862 of Nantes, then from 1866 to 1879 of Kerch. Details of his death are not known.
