Charles Archer was the son of William Archer, timber merchant, sometime of Perth, Scotland, and later of Larvik, Norway, and his wife Julia, nee Walker. Of their thirteen children, nine spent time in Australia. Charles Archer's brothers David, Thomas and John were pastoralists who took up Durundur station in the Moreton district in 1841, the most northerly station at that time. He joined them in Australia in that year. He and another brother, William discovered and named the Fitzroy River in 1853 and took up land there, first occupying it in 1855. Charles Archer died in Norway in 1862.