~ FORREST FAMILY lOu had excitement, you hadprojects, you hadpotential, you had the ability togenerate great wealth in ~stern Australia ... [But} you can't do it on yourown and the Forrest brothers understood ... that they needed to capture the imagination and support ofpeople in government, ofpeople to support these incredibly brave exploration programs ... Andrew Forrest Andrew Forrest's great-great-uncle, Sir·John Forrest, explorer and surveyor, Premier ofWestern Australia, national parliamentarian, and first Baron Forrest of Bunbury, would approve of his descendant's words. The man who created the world's longest water pipeline, 330 miles (530 kilometres) into the Kalgoorlie desert, not only dreamt great dreams but helped turn them into reality. He was the first in a line ofForrest pioneers who opened up the remote colony ofWestern Australia and turned it into a prosperous state. Western Australia is still prone to cycles of boom and bust-a propensity which has since been reflected in the fortunes of Sir John's descendants: Minderoo station, pioneered by Sir John and his brothers in Western Australia's remote north-west, has been sold after three generations in Forrest hands. Four generations on, Andrew, too, is an explorer-though in opening up the land, he looks not for what lies beyond, but for what lies beneath. Sir John Forrest. Forrest Family Collection For Andrew, the thrill ofdiscovery rests on uncovering the mineral wealth ---------------------- 140 DYNASTIES 2 THE FORREST FAMILY, 141 of Western Australia. His enterprises have not been without controversy, largely umnapped, and the government's survey department offered plenty however. His nickel-mining venture, Anaconda, left many investors of challenge for a young, ambitious and energetic man. burned. Now, with the iron ore venture Fortescue Metals, he is back on When, in 1869, reports reached Perth ofthe discovery ofsome human family ground in the red dust of the Pilbara, and once again at the eye of bones-thought possibly to be those of Ludwig Leichhardt's ill-fated the storm. As with Sir John, Andrew's exploits come under frequent media expedition-John Forrest was chosen to lead the search expedition attack. But his siblings believe that if anyone can 'buy back the'farm' and through then-unexplored country near modern-day Laverton. His small rebuild the Forrest fortunes, it will be Andrew. party of three fellow Europeans and two Aborigines trekked north and east from Perth, covering over 2000 miles (3220 kilometres) in 113 days. Although the supposed Leichhardt remains were never found., Forrest on . Fittingly, the Forrest family's earliest ancestors in Western Australia arrived his return suggested that geologists should survey the interior for possible in a spirit of exploration and speculation. William and Margaret Forrest mineral deposits. set sailfrom Glasgow in 1842, given free passage by the Western Australian With one successfully completed expedition to his name, Forrest was Company, which had been founded in England in the late 1830s. The again chosen, with the blessing ofthe governor, Sir Frederick Weld, to lead company had bought land at Australind, near present-day Bunbury, and an attempt to reach Adelaide by way of the south coast and the daunting divided it into small farming lots to be worked by the incoming settlers. Nullarbor Plain. It was dangerous country, where Edward John Eyre had By 1842, when the Forrests arrived, over 440 settlers had landed, only to nearly perished on his expedition in 1841, and Forrest made careful be discouraged by the poor coastal soils, the summer droughts and the preparation, choosing his brother Alexander, as second-in-command. lashing winter rains. The Forrests did not stay there long but settled on the Supply vessels would meet them at Esperance Bay,Israelite Bay and Eucla, Preston River, nearer Perth, where William-a millwright and engineer­ Even so, according to his great-great-niece, Shirley Forrest, 'things were built a flour mill and diverted the river to power his mill. very bad as far as water was concerned and they just made it in the end'. The couple prospered well enough to send their first three sons-John, The journey, which had begun on 30 March 1870, culminated successfully Alexander and David-to Bishop Hale's school in Perth, but it was, in Adelaide on 27 August to a tumultuous reception. nonetheless, 'a terrible sacrifice on their own living conditions to send Another enthusiastic reception greeted the brothers when they arrived their kids off to school', states Andrew Forrest. Many years later when back in Albany,Western Australia, by ship. Among the many speeches was John and Alexander helped connect Western Australia with the far-distant one by Tommy Windich, John's Aboriginal companion, who said he was eastern seaboard, William Forrest is supposed to have said, in his dour proud to be the man who had accompanied John Forrest across Australia Scottish way: 'Well, if it wasn't for me and me old wife, Maud, nothing and concluded that 'I really liked being with all you people'. The speech would have happened.' supposedly 'brought the house down'. Back in Perth, John was granted These three sons were the only children ofWilliam and Mary's ten to 5000 acres (2025 hectares) ofland and, in the following year,won the gold reap the benefits of the couple's new and short-lived prosperity. When a medal ofBritain's Royal Geographic Society, but he would not rest on his fire destroyed the mill in 1867, there were precious few resources to fall laurels. In 1872, he suggested a new expedition starting from Champion back on. None of the remainder of their offspring enjoyed the same Bay,following the Murchison River and then continuing eastwards to the educational head start. telegraph line across Australia, which was then nearing completion. The first three sons seized their opportunities with gusto. John, born With a £400 grant from the govermnent (Forrest himself raised an in August 1847, proved a quick student, and when he left school in 1863 additional £200) and his brother Alexander again as second-in-command, he began to studv survevinz. Western Australia was still a colony, huge and John Forrest finally set out from Geraldton in March 1874. He took with 142 DYNASTIES 2 THE FORREST FAMILY' 143 him four other men, eighteen packhorses and provisions for eight months. over: a staggering £2.5 million was authorised just to pay for the line to the This trip he described in Explorations in Australia, 1 published the following goldfields. Water may have been in short supply, but there was no shortage year. This would prove to be an even tougher journey, during which the of criticism of the project, its scale and financial risks. Nevertheless, Forrest party members were sometimes close to death and were saved only by gave O'Connor unqualified support, in public and in parliament. The work Windich, who finally found enough water to keep them going. began in 1898, with gangs of men toiling across the rough countryside, in By 1876,John Forrest had been appointed deputy surveyor-general for baking summers and bitter winters. A storage reservoir was built on the Western Australia, overseeing the settlement ofthe Kimberley district and Helena River, with a wall rising 100 feet (30 metres) high. From this choosing routes for railway lines. He also campaigned vigorously for the reservoir, over 325 miles (523 kilometres) of pipelines snaked slowly end of British colonial rule and the introduction of responsible overland to the Mount Charlotte Reservoir at Kalgoorlie. Here a dam was government. When this was granted in 1890,John Forrest, unsurprisingly, built to hold almost five million gallons (since extended) offresh water. And was returned unopposed as member for Bunbury. He was then summoned it was here that the newly knighted Sir John Forrest opened the scheme on by the governor to form the first government, and he remained Western 24 January 1903, in a day of 106-degree (41-degree Celsius) heat. He was, Australia's Premier for a record ten years. by then, no longer Premier, but the pipeline had been his dream and he was He was as energetic and vigorous in government as he had been as a the man to open it. It had been a huge gamble, with Forrest wagering that surveyor and explorer. John Forrest was a big, burly man-six foot (183 the state's growing population and growing revenues could meet the centimetres) tall and, in later life, over eighteen stone (114 kilograms) in repayments on its multi-million pound loans. For John Forrest, the gamble weight-and he was determined to see his geographically huge but paid off. His brilliant engineer, C Y O'Connor, however, was not so lucky. sparsely populated state flourish. His ambitious program of public works Stung by the crescendo of media criticism in the year before the opening, included the development ofFremantle harbour, extensions to the railway he had ridden into the sea off Cottesloe and shot himself. and telegraph systems and other major pieces of infrastructure. Four generations later, Andrew Forrest still believes that this massive John was aided in his ambitions by the discovery ofgold at Coolgardie project was one of his ancestor's gre,atest achievements for Western in 1892 and in Kalgoorlie the following year. The finds brought an influx Australia. 'The media at the time were very unkind to both him and his of gold-seekers to these remote arid areas. The hopeful miners lived in principal engineers, for raising too much money, for doing things which appalling conditions and outbreaks oftyphoid and other diseases were not were out of the box. But if we hadn't done them, then Australia as we uncommon.