John Forrest KCMG (1847 - 1918)

Born 22 Aug 1847 in Preston Point, Western Australia

Ancestors

Husband of Margaret Elvire (Hamersley) Forrest — married 29 Feb 1876 in Perth, Western Australia, Australia

Died 3 Sep 1918 at age 71 in Sierra Leone

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Biography

John Forrest KCMG is Notable.

John Forrest was born at Preston Point near Bunbury, Western Australia (WA) on 22 August 1847.^[1]

John was the fourth child and third son of the ten children of William Forrest from Bervie, near Stonehaven, Kincardineshire, Scotland, and his wife Margaret Guthrie, née Hill, a Dundee shopkeeping family related to the Black Campbells of Ayrshire.^[1] John's parents migrated from Scotland to Western Australia in December 1842 as servants to Dr John Ferguson.^[1]

On Tuesday, 29 February 1876, at St George's Cathedral, Perth, West Australia, John Forrest, FRGS, Deputy Surveyor General of the colony, third son of William Forrest, Esq, of Leschenault, near Bunbury, was married to Margaret Elvire, eldest daughter of the late Edward Hamersley, Esq, BA, JP, late of Pyrton, near Guildford, by the Very Rev Dean Gegg.^[2] Lady Forrest, was born at Havre, France, in 1844.^[3]

John attended Bishop’s Collegiate School (later to become Perth Collegiate School then Hale School) in Perth.^[4]

John qualified as a surveyor in 1865. In 1869 he undertook the first of many successful explorative expeditions in Western Australia, when he led a 4 month expedition from Perth in search of clues to the fate of the long-lost Leichardt expedition. In the 1870s with his brother Alexander Forrest, he undertook various expeditions to open up vast areas of Western Australia to agriculture and was rewarded with various grants of land.^[4] John wrote Explorations in Australia, a very detailed report of his explorations, was published in 1875 by which time he was a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.^[5]

In 1883 John Forrest was appointed Surveyor-General, Commissioner of Crown Lands and a member of the Western Australian Legislative Council. He was the first colonial born to be appointed head of a government department.^[4]

In 1887, his brother, Alexander Forrest, was elected the first member of the Western Australian Legislative Council for the Kimberley and Alexander's horse First Price wins the inaugural Perth Cup, with an initial stake of 250 pounds.^[4]

In 1890, when the new Constitution for Western Australia came into effect, John was elected to the Legislative Assembly as the member for Bunbury and became leader of the government.

On 22 December 1890, the Governor appointed John Forrest as Western Australian’s first Premier. Four of the five man cabinet were Bishop’s School Old Boys, including Septimus Burt as Attorney-General, with Alexander Forrest as Cabinet Secretary (the ‘Sixth Minister’). Leader of the Opposition in Western Australia was Bishop’s School Old Boy Stephen Henry Parker (later Chief Justice of Western Australia). John Forrest’s right hand man in the civil service (as Under-Treasurer) was the first student enrolled in Bishop’s School, Laurence Eliot.^[4]

Forrest was unchallenged as Premier for ten years. A consistent supporter of federation, Forrest attended the federal conventions of 1891 and 1897-98, where he was vigilant in ensuring that the interests of Western Australia should not suffer in a federal agreement.

Also in 1891 Forrest become the first native-born Australian to be appointed Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG).^[1]

WA was the last State to join the Australian Federation after Sir John called a referendum on the issue on 31 July, 1900.^[6]

Forrest was invited to join the Barton Ministry and on 1 January 1901, he was appointed the first Federal Treasurer for the Commonwealth of Australia.^[4] At the first federal election in March 1901, he was returned unopposed to represent the federal seat of Swan in the House of Representatives. He served as Postmaster-General, Minister for Defence and Minister for Home Affairs. He was Treasurer in five ministries.

On 24 January 1903 the Kalgoorlie pipeline opened. A former Governor of High School, Dr John Winthrop Hackett, stated: ‘Two men and two men alone were responsible for the Coolgardie Water Scheme, Sir John Forrest and Mr C.Y. O’Connor, the man who gave his life for it’.^[4]

In 1918 John Forrest was the first Australian to be granted a peerage. His last few months were spent as First Baron Forrest of Bunbury. Forrest resigned from the ministry owing to ill health on 27 March, 1918, and set sail for London in June to take up his seat in the House of Lords. He died on 2 September while the ship was anchored off the coast of Sierra Leone. The remains of Sir John Forrest, 1st Baron Forrest of Bunbury, were brought back to Western Australia and placed at Karrakatta cemetery on 7 May, 1919. ^[6]

Perhaps his most visible legacy is Kings Park, of which he was an active proponent, together with Surveyor-General Malcolm Fraser and Alexander Forrest. Baron John Forrest of Bunbury was the first President of the Kings Park Board. ^[4] A statue to honour John Forrest, the first Premier of Western Australia (1890 - 1901) and the first President of the Kings Park Board, was erected in Kings Park and unveiled in August, 1928.^[7]

John was born in 1847. He passed away in 1918. ^[8]

KB00021302 (historic) Karrakatta Cemetery - Burial

People - LifeTree

Sir John and Lady Forrest with nieces, riding camels, the Sphinx, Egypt. (c. 1911)

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3}
   F. K. Crowley, Forrest, Sir John (1847–1918), Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University,
   published first in hardcopy 1981, accessed online 8 February 2018.
2. ↑ "Family Notices", The Western Australian Times
   (Perth, WA : 1874 - 1879), 17 March 1876: 2. accessed 8 February 2018.
3. ↑ Airlie, 'Forrest, Lady Margaret Elvire (1844–1929)', Obituaries Australia, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://oa.anu.edu.au/obituary/forrest-lady-margaret-elvire-13735/text24538, accessed 8 February 2018.
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7} Lee Panotidis, Bill Edgar and Judy Greaney, "The History of Hale School and its Old Boys", Hale School, accessed 8 February 2018.
5. ↑ John Forrest, FRGS, Explorations in Australia, (London: SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, LOW, & SEARLE, 1875), http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks/e00051.html : accessed 22 February 2015.
6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1} "Premiers: Sir John Forrest (Forrest Party) 29 December 1890 - 14 February 1901", The Constitutional Centre of Western Australia, Government of Western Australia, http://www.constitutionalcentre.wa.gov.au/ExhibitionsOnline/GovernorsAndPremiers/Premiers/Pages/Forrest.aspx : accessed 22 February 2015.
7. ↑ Botanic Gardens and Parks Authority, "Kings Park and Botanic Garden Memorials", Government of Western Australia, accessed 8 February 2018.
8. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/146411114/john-forrest : accessed 03 October 2021), memorial page for Sir John Forrest (22 Aug 1847–3 Sep 1918), Find a Grave Memorial ID 146411114, citing Karrakatta Cemetery and Crematorium, Karrakatta, Nedlands City, Western Australia, Australia ; Maintained by graver (contributor 47037760) Find A Grave: Memorial #146411114

• Visit: Western Australia Divisions - Profile Tree
• Karrakatta Historical Walk Trail One (Profile 8), accessed 28 October 2017.

See also:

• http://exhibitions.senate.gov.au/pogg/members/forrest.htm