Page:History of West Australia.djvu/412

2 Australian Premier, left Scotland for this colony. Thirteen years previously the first settlement was made in what was then known as New Holland, but very little advance was up to that time attained. A few farms were established here and there in suitable places, but, taking Western Australia as a whole, comparatively nothing was known of its potentialities; indeed it was many years afterwards that more knowledge was obtained on that point. A few outside centres had been formed beyond Perth and Fremantle, and amid them and the woodlands around the pioneer settlers were dispersed.

Mr. William Forrest took up his abode near Bunbury. With the somewhat primitive implements at his disposal he turned a little wilderness into a fructive farm, and in the place of the forest he raised a corn-field and garden. There were numerous romantic incidents connected with the life of the early band of pioneers. Isolated from every populated civilised centre on this broad earth, their nearest neighbours were the natives, and to live peaceably among them required no little tact. Mr. Forrest had little companionship, but with other pioneers he worked laboriously to utilise and render valuable to the world the waste lands of Western Australia.

The son of Mr. James Forrest, a Scotch Writer to the Signet, Mr. William Forrest was born near Stonehaven, Kincardineshire, Scotland, in 1819, and still lives near Bunbury. He is a civil and mechanical engineer by profession. His wife bravely accompanied him to the colony, and it was only recently that she died. In addition to following agricultural pursuits and becoming a landed proprietor, Mr. Forrest erected near his farm a flour mill, which was driven by water power fitted by himself. He took an active part in all progressive movements designed to conduce to the welfare of his district, but, unlike his son, he did not enter the more public arena of political life. His chief service was as a member for many years of several Roads Boards. Although past his three score years and ten, Mr. Forrest is still hearty and fairly active, and from his old home near Bunbury watches with never-tiring interest the public careers of his sons, Sir John and Mr. Alexander Forrest, M.L.A., in the service of the country to which he presented them.

On the 22nd August, 1847, John Forrest was born near Bunbury. The days of his boyhood were passed in that picturesque and fertile district, and daily he saw woodland scenes typical of his native country. There were the "black boy," and a certain kind of bracken, the jarrah, and numerous other woodland monarchs, and there was a congenial climate which, no doubt, has much to do in the moulding of character. In the small, old-fashioned house of his father John Forrest gained the strong grounding to a character which was destined to be the most notable of its time in the colony. His companions were often the poor black natives, tribes of whom roamed, gipsy-like, the district. Hence he became West Australian from head to foot. When old enough he was sent to Perth to be educated at what was known as the Bishop's School. This institution was founded in Perth by the late Bishop Hale, and afforded its pupils an excellent education, considering the difficulties under which it necessarily existed. The boy showed a fair aptitude for studies; when eighteen years of age in 1865, having already served an apprenticeship to surveying, he entered the Survey Department of Western Australia. His early work in that sphere was marked by energy and a determination to succeed. He mastered the ramifications of survey work, and made a close study of navigation. Thus in four years time his superiors recognised in him an exceedingly useful officer.

In 1868 news reached Perth from natives that some of them had seen the bones of white men in the interior. These were hoped to be the remains of the unfortunate Leichardt and his party, about whose fate much speculation had for many years existed. This noted Australian explorer had gone out from the eastern coast in 1848 into the darkness of the more central part of Australia, and beyond a certain point nothing more had been heard of him. The world naturally desired to discover how and where he met his death. The report of the natives was received with wide-spread interest, and it was desired to prove its correctness. Baron Von Mueller, the famous Victorian scientist, who was always stimulating and encouraging the complete exploration of Australia, proposed, early in 1869, that the Western Australian Government should test the truth of the report, and offered to lead an expedition to the place indicated. Later, however, Baron Von Mueller found that he had not time for the undertaking. Mr. John Forrest was known by his superiors to be conversant with navigation, a knowledge which is required as much in exploration as on the oceans, and he was approached to take command. He had previously accepted the post of second in command, and was therefore not backward in accepting the more important office. It coincided with his innate love of adventure, and, as he himself has written, he "ardently desired to take his share in the work." It needed considerable courage to go into such an inhospitable region as the locality indicated was known to be. Nor was courage the only quality required. Determination and fine judgment, a hardy constitution, good generalship and tact were not the least. John Forrest had imbibed into his constitution, at his home in Bunbury, the necessary hardy nature, and he also filled the popular conception of an explorer—a robust man with a keen eye, adroit, determined, energetic. He was then but twenty-two years old, and the awarding of such an important task was a great compliment to his wisdom. With the assistance of copious instructions he fitted out his expedition of three white men and two natives, and secured sixteen horses and sufficient provisions.

On the 15th April, 1869, just twenty-one years and twenty-one days since Leichardt had last been heard of, John Forrest and his companions set forth on their quest. They went in a north-easterly direction from Perth to Toodyay. They bid farewell to the farthest station to the eastward on April 27th, and then were lost in the gloom and silence of the wildernesses. Day by day they travelled farther from civilisation into the unknown, and were hid among the mulga and stunted gums, the acacia and cypress thickets. From Toodyay their course was east by north. Then at times they would make north or south, east, and sometimes a little westward. This was due to the lack of water along the route, and the consequent necessity to shape a way so as to fall in with that too scarce liquid. They proceeded through dense scrubby thickets of acacia