The Honourable Sir John Forrest GCMG
1st Premier of Western Australia
In office 22 December 1890 – 15 February 1901
Succeeded by	George Throssell
Constituency	Bunbury
Personal details
Born	(1847-08-22)22 August 1847 Bunbury, Western Australia
Died	2 September 1918(1918-09-02) (aged 71)[1] at sea off the coast of Sierra Leone
Resting place	Karrakatta Cemetery
Spouse(s)	Margaret Elvire Hamersley

Sir John Forrest GCMG (22 August 1847 – 2 September^[1] 1918) was an Australian explorer, the first Premier of Western Australia and a cabinet minister in Australia's first federal parliament.

As a young man, John Forrest won fame as an explorer by leading three expeditions into the interior of Western Australia, for which he was awarded the 1876 Royal Geographical Society's Patron's Medal. ^[2]

He was appointed Surveyor General and in 1890 became the first Premier of Western Australia, its only premier as a self-governing colony. Forrest's premiership gave the state ten years of stable administration during a period of rapid development and demographic change. He pursued a policy of large-scale public works and extensive land settlement, and he helped to ensure that Western Australia joined the federation of Australian states. After federation, he moved to federal politics, where he was at various times postmaster-general, Minister for Defence, Minister for Home Affairs, Treasurer and acting Prime Minister.

Shortly before his death, Forrest was informed that the King had approved his being raised to the British peerage as Baron Forrest of Bunbury. He immediately began signing his name as "Forrest", as if he were already a peer. However, at the time of his death his peerage had not been legally established by letters patent. References to him as "Lord Forrest" are therefore incorrect.

Early years and family life of John Forrest[edit]

Forrest, was one of 10 children of William and Margaret Forrest, who came out as servants under Dr John Ferguson in 1842. He was born at Picton near Bunbury in what was then the British colony of Western Australia. He was also known as Jack to his family.^[3] Among his seven brothers were Alexander Forrest and David Forrest. John attended the government school in Bunbury under John Hislop until the age of twelve, when he was sent north to Perth to attend the Bishop's Collegiate School, now Hale School, starting there in January 1860.^[3] In November 1863, he was apprenticed to a government land surveyor named Thomas Carey. When his term of apprenticeship ended in November 1865, he became the first man born and educated in the colony to qualify as a land surveyor. He then commenced work as a surveyor with the government's Lands and Surveys Department.hi :).

On 2 September 1876^[4] in Perth, Forrest married Margaret Elvire Hamersley. The Hamersleys were a very wealthy family, and Forrest gained substantially in wealth and social standing from the marriage. However, to their disappointment the marriage was childless.^[5]

Forrest the explorer[edit]

John Forrest's explorations, as pictured in his book Explorations in Australia

Between 1869 and 1874, Forrest led three expeditions into the uncharted land surrounding the colony of Western Australia. In 1869, he led a fruitless search for the explorer Ludwig Leichhardt, in the desert west of the site of the present-day town of Leonora. The following year, he surveyed Edward John Eyre's land route from Perth to Adelaide. In 1874, he led a party to the watershed of the Murchison River, and then east through the unknown desert centre of Western Australia. Forrest published an account of his expeditions, Explorations in Australia,^[6] in 1875. In 1882, He was made a Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) by Queen Victoria for his services in exploring the interior.

The search for Leichhardt[edit]

In March 1869, Forrest was asked to lead an expedition in search of the explorer Ludwig Leichhardt, who had been missing since April 1848. A few years earlier, a party of Aborigines had told the explorer Charles Hunt of a place where a group of white men had been killed by Aborigines^[7] a long time ago, and some time afterwards an Aboriginal tracker named Jemmy Mungaro had corroborated their story and claimed to have personally been to the location. Since it was thought that these stories might refer to Leichhardt's party, Forrest was asked to lead a party to the site, with Mungaro as their guide, and there to search for evidence of Leichhardt's fate.

Forrest assembled a party of six, including the Aboriginal trackers Mungaro and Tommy Windich, and they left Perth on 15 April 1869. They headed in a north-easterly direction, passing through the colony's furthermost sheep station on 26 April. On 6 May, they encountered a group of Aborigines who offered to guide the party to a place where there were many skeletons of horses. Forrest's team accompanied this group in a more northerly direction, but after a week of travelling it became clear that their destination was Poison Rock, where the explorer Robert Austin was known to have left eleven of his horses for dead in 1854. They then turned once more towards the location indicated by their guide.

The team arrived in the location to be searched on 28 May. They then spent almost three weeks surveying and searching an area of about 15,000 km² in the desert west of the site of the present-day town of Leonora. Having found no evidence of Leichhardt's fate, and Mungaro having changed his story and admitted that he had not personally visited the site, they decided to push as far eastwards as they could on their remaining supplies. The expedition reached its furthest point east on 2 July, near the present-day site of the town of Laverton. They then turned for home, returning by a more northerly route and arriving back in Perth on 6 August.

They had been absent for 113 days, and had travelled, by Forrest's reckoning, over 3,600 kilometres (2,200 mi), most of it through uncharted desert. They had found no sign of Leichhardt, and the country over which they travelled was useless for farming. However, Forrest did report that his compass had been affected by the presence of minerals in the ground, and he suggested that the government send geologists to examine the area. Ultimately, the expedition achieved very little, but it was of great personal advantage to Forrest, whose reputation with his superiors, and in the community at large, was greatly enhanced.

The Bight crossing[edit]

Later that year, Forrest was selected to lead an expedition that would survey a land route along the Great Australian Bight between the colonies of South Australia and Western Australia. The explorer Edward John Eyre had achieved such a crossing thirty years earlier, but his expedition had been poorly planned and equipped, and Eyre had nearly perished from lack of water. Forrest's expedition would follow Eyre's route, but it would be thoroughly planned and properly resourced. Also, the recent discovery of safe anchorages at Israelite Bay and Eucla would permit Forrest's team to be reprovisioned along the way by a chartered schooner Adur.^[8] Forrest's brief was to provide a proper survey of the route, which might be used in future to establish a telegraph link between the colonies, and also to assess the suitability of the land for pasture.

Forrest's team consisted of six men his brother Alexander was second in charge, Police constable Hector McLarty, farrier William Osborn, trackers Windich and Billy Noongale 16 horses and a number of dogs.^[8] The party left Perth on 30 March 1870, and arrived at Esperance on 24 April. Heavy rain fell for much of this time. After resting and reprovisioning, the party left Esperance on 9 May and arrived at Israelite Bay nine days later. They had encountered very little feed for their horses, and no permanent water, but managed to obtain sufficient rain water from rock water-holes. After reprovisioning, the team left for Eucla on 30 May. Again they encountered very little feed and no permanent water, and this time the water they obtained from rock water-holes was not sufficient. They were compelled to dash more than 240 kilometres (150 mi) to a spot where Eyre had found water in 1841. Having secured a water source, they rested and explored the area before moving on, eventually reaching Eucla on 2 July. At Eucla they rested and reprovisioned, and also explored inland, where they found good pasture land. On 14 July, the team started the final leg of their expedition through unsettled country: from Eucla to the nearest South Australian station. During this last leg almost no water could be found, and the team were compelled to travel day and night for nearly five days. They saw their first signs of civilisation on 18 July, and eventually reached Adelaide on 27 August.

A week later they boarded ship for Western Australia, arriving in Perth on 27 September. They were honoured at two receptions one by the Perth City Council and a citizens banquet at the Horse and Groom Tavern. Speaking at the receptions John Forrest was modest about his own contributions while praising the efforts of the members of the expedition and dividing a government gratuity between them.^[8]

Forrest's bight crossing was one of the best organised and managed expeditions of his time. As a result, his party successfully completed in five months a journey that had taken Eyre twelve, arriving in good health and without the loss of a single horse. From that point of view, the expedition must be considered a success. However, the tangible results were not great. They had not travelled far from Eyre's track, and although a large area was surveyed, only one small area of land suitable for pasture was found. A second expedition by the same team returned to this area between August and November 1871 finding further good pastures north north east of Esperance.^[8]

Across the interior[edit]

Forrest leading his 1874 expedition party out of Perth

In August 1872 Forrest was invited to lead a third expedition, this time from Geraldton to the source of the Murchison River, and then east through the uncharted centre of Western Australia, to the overland telegraph line from Darwin to Adelaide. The purpose was to discover the nature of the unknown centre of Western Australia, and to find new pastoral land.

Forrest's team again consisted of six men including his brother Alexander and Windich. They also had 20 horses and food for eight months. The team left Geraldton on 1 April 1874, and a fortnight later passed through the colony's outermost station. On 3 May the team passed into completely unknown land. They found plenty of good pastoral land around the headwaters of the Murchison River, but by late May they were travelling over arid land. On 2 June, while dangerously short of water, they discovered Weld Springs, "one of the best springs in the colony" according to Forrest. At Weld Springs on 13 June the party was attacked by a large group of Aborigines, and Forrest was compelled to shoot a number of them. Beyond Weld Springs water was extremely hard to obtain, and by 4 July the team were relying on occasional thunderstorms for water. By 2 August, the team was critically short of water; a number of horses had been abandoned, and Forrest's journal indicates that the team had little confidence of survival. A few days later they were rescued by a shower of rain. On 23 August they were again critically short of water and half of their horses were near death, when they were saved by the discovery of Elder Springs. After this, the land became somewhat less arid, and the risk of dying from thirst started to abate. Other difficulties continued, however: they had to abandon more of their horses, and one member of the team suffered from scurvy and could barely walk. They finally sighted the telegraph line near Mount Alexander on 27 September, and reached Peake Telegraph Station three days later. The remainder of the journey was a succession of triumphant public receptions as they passed through each country town en route to Adelaide. The team reached Adelaide on 3 November 1874, more than six months after they started from Geraldton.

From an exploration point of view, Forrest's third expedition was of great importance. A large area of previously unknown land was explored, and the popular notion of an inland sea was shown to be unlikely. However the practical results were not great. Plenty of good pastoral land was found up to the head of the Murchison, but beyond that the land was useless for pastoral enterprise, and Forrest was convinced that it would never be settled.

In 1875, Forrest published Explorations in Australia, an account of his three expeditions. In July 1876, he was awarded the Founder's Gold Medal of the Royal Geographical Society of London. He was made a CMG by Queen Victoria in 1882 for his services in exploring the interior.