Forrest, John (1847 - 1918)

Summary

Sir John Forrest (1st Baron Forrest of Bunbury) was on the staff of the Western Australian Surveyor-General's Office 1865-1890, ultimately becoming Surveyor General and Commissioner for Crown Lands. He was highly competent as leader of three expeditions between 1869 and 1874 in the uncharted wilderness of Western Australia and into South Australia, on the last accompanied by his brother Alexander (also a surveyor). These expeditions yielded many specimens for botanists and geologists. Over 1,900 botanical specimens were sent to Victorian Government Botanist Ferdinand von Mueller, with whom Forrest was acquainted. Forrest's political career included terms as Premier and Colonial Treasurer of Western Australia from 1890 to1901, in several ministries in the Australian Parliament after 1901, and Acting Prime Minister of Australia in 1907.

Details

Chronology

1863 - 1865

Career event - Apprenticed as surveyor

1871 - 1876

Career position - Government Surveyor for the Northern District, Western Australia

1876

Award - Gold Medal, Royal Geographical Society

1876 - 1878

Career position - Deputy Surveyor General, Western Australian Surveyor General's Office

1878 - 1881

Career position - Acting Superintendent of Convicts, Western Australia

1878 - 1883

Career position - Acting Surveyor General and Commissioner for Crown Lands

1882

Award - Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG)

1883 - 1890

Career position - Surveyor General and Commissioner for Crown Lands, Western Australia

1888 -

Career event - Original [founding] member, Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science

1888

Career position - President, Section E (Geography), Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science

1890

Career position - President, Section F (Ethnology and Anthropology), Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science

1890

Career event - Elected as Member for Bunbury, Legislative Assembly, Western Australian Parliament

1890 - 1901

Career position - Premier and Colonial Treasurer, Western Australian Parliament

1890 - 1901

Career position - Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG)

1891

Award - Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG)

1894 - 1898

Career position - Colonial Secretary, Western Australian Parliament

1897

Career position - Privy Councillor

1897

Award - Honorary Doctor of Laws, University of Cambridge

1901

Award - Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George (GCMG)

1901

Career position - Postmaster-General, Australian Parliament

1901 - 1903

Career position - Minister for Defence, Australian Parliament

1901 - 1918

Career position - Member for Swan, House of Representatives, Australian Parliament

1902

Award - Honorary Doctor of Laws, University of Adelaide

1903 - 1904

Career position - Minister for Home Affairs, Australian Parliament

1907

Career position - Acting Prime Minister of Australia

1914

Career position - Vice President, Section E (Geography), British Association for the Advancement of Science Meeting

1916

Award - Honorary Doctor of Laws, University of Western Australia

1918

Award - Created the 1st Baron Forrest of Bunbury

1941

Taxonomy event - Eucalyptus formanii C.A. Gardner was named in his honour. Forrest also was joint collector of the type

Related entries

Archival resources

Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science

• Australian Botanists - Biographies, MS 064; Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science. Details

JS Battye Library of West Australian History, State Library of Western Australia

• John Forrest - Records, 1865 - 1918, ACC 2181A; JS Battye Library of West Australian History, State Library of Western Australia. Details

Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales

• John Forrest - Records, 1900 - 1918, ML MSS 931; Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales. Details

Published resources

Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation Exhibitions

• McCarthy, Gavan; Smith, Ailie; Moje, Christine; Rigby, Rebecca, The Study of Australian Eucalypts, eScholarship Research Centre, 2013, http://www.eoas.info/eucalypts/index.html. Details

Books

• Crowley, Frank, Big John Forrest 1847 - 1918: a founding father of the Commonwealth of Australia (Nedlands, Western Australia: University of Western Australia Press, 2000), 540 pp. Details
• Forrest, John, Explorations in Australia : I.- Explorations in search of Dr. Leichardt and party. II. - From Perth to Adelaide, around the Great Australian Bight. III. -From Champion Bay, across the desert to the telegraph and to Adelaide, with an appendix on the condition of Western Australia (London: Sampson, Low, Marston & Searle, 1875), 351 pp. Details

Book Sections

• Baigent, Elizabeth, 'John Forrest, first Baron Forrest, 1847-1918' in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004). Details
• Crowley, F. K., 'Forrest, Sir John (Baron Forrest) (1847-1918)' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 8: 1891 - 1939 Cl-Gib, Bede Nairn and Geoffrey Serle, eds (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1981), pp. 544-551. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A080565b.htm. Details

Edited Books

• Battye, J.S. ed., The Cyclopedia of Western Australia : an historical and commercial review, descriptive and biographical facts figures and illustrations : an epitome of progress [Volume 1], vol. 1 (Perth: Cyclopedia Co, 1912), 776 pp, https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-250451699. 'Rt Hon Sir John Forrest, PC GCMG LLD MHR' Vol1, p.308-9. Details

Journal Articles

• Forrest, John, 'Address by [...] President of Section E - Geography', Report of the first meeting of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, 1 (1889), 352-359, https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/15813442. Details
• Powell, J. M., 'John Forrest 1847-1918; Alexander Forrest 1849-1901', Geographers: Bibliographical Studies, 8 (1984), 39-43. Details

Resources

• Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q921617. Details
• VIAF - Virtual International Authority File, OCLC, https://viaf.org/viaf/64786403. Details
• 'Forrest, John (18470822-19180903)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-824900. Details

Theses

• Coates, Ian, 'The social construction of the John Forrest Australian Aboriginal Ethnographic Collection: past and present', BAHons thesis, Australian National University, 1989, 69 pp. Details

See also

• Federation and Meteorology, 2001, http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/fam/index_f.html. Details
• Hall, Norman, Botanists of the Eucalypts: short biographies of people who have named eucalypts, whose names have been given to species or who have collected type material (Melbourne: CSIRO, 1978), 101 pp. Details
• Nettelbeck, Amanda (and others), The Overland Telegraph Line: A Transcultural History, [web resource; undated], South Australian Government, South Australia, 2023. https://otlhistory.sa.gov.au/. Details
• Serle, Percival, Dictionary of Australian biography (Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1949). Details