Baron John Forrest Forrest

Born at Preston Point in Western Australia, John Forrest qualified as a surveyor in the 1860s and became widely known for a series of major expeditions across Western Australia. Those journeys made his reputation as one of the colony’s best-known explorers and public figures.

He later moved from exploration into politics, serving as a leading figure in Western Australia before joining the first federal Parliament of Australia in 1901. In national politics he represented Swan and remained an important public man until his death in 1918.

Remembered as both an explorer and a nation-builder, Forrest’s career connects two big parts of Australian history: the surveying of inland country and the early years of the Commonwealth.