22 August: Boreham on Lord Forrest

Founding a Nation
The twenty-second of August is the birthday of Lord Forrest. In commemorating that event, it is specially pleasing to contemplate that sturdy figure in our history as being essentially Australian. In the nature of things, most of the men who laid the foundations of national existence in these southern lands, and who blazed the first trails across the new territories, were men who looked to the old country as the land of their birth and to these Dominions as the theatre of their achievements. Cherishing the encrusted traditions of an ancient empire, they planted its flag and perpetuated the lustre of its renown amidst scenery that was entirely novel and unfamiliar. Strangers in a strange land, they resolved to make it richer and better for their advent.

With Lord Forrest, however, it was otherwise. Born on August 22, 1847, in the State whose destinies he was to shape, and whose institutions seem, to this hour, to be permeated by his massive and commanding personality, he found the stage set for him. All the elements of Australian life were fresh and plastic, waiting to be moulded to his will. Things were ready for the hand of a strong man who knew how to turn the occasion to his purpose. West Australia was entirely undeveloped: its day had not yet dawned. Victoria had no separate existence. Queensland was a mere out-station of New South Wales. The other States were in their infancy. Almost as soon as he opened his eyes and looked round upon the world, John Forrest recognised the splendour of his opportunity.

Great Ability Matched By Splendid Opportunity
Nature had endowed him with a magnificent physique and with an alert and hungry mind. A child of the bush, he quickly learned the secrets of those vast western solitudes, could find his way anywhere, and could live under the wildest conditions. Even as a boy he was often consulted by experienced bushmen who regarded his comprehensive observations and lightning deductions as positively uncanny. Passionately devoted to the outdoor life, and to the investigation of the unexplored, he made up his mind, before he had entered his teens, to be a surveyor. He applied himself to the requisite study with such diligence that, at sixteen, he was articled to the Government Surveyor at Bunbury, and, at eighteen, was a fully qualified practitioner of his craft. The performance is characteristic. He always knew his own mind; and he smiled in fine scorn at any obstacles.

Nor had he long to wait for the challenge that was to test his manhood's mettle. The early history of Australian exploration had been marked by a singular and inscrutable mystery. A finely-equipped expedition, led by Ludwig Leichhardt, had completely vanished. Setting out in 1848, it was never again heard of. Relief expeditions proved fruitless. In 1868, however, the year in which John Forrest came of age, the Government determined to make a supreme effort to elucidate the baffling problem, and, his youth notwithstanding, Forrest was placed in command of the expedition. The enterprise completely established his reputation. He proved himself a born leader of men: he won the devoted affection and implicit confidence of all his followers: and, although no trace of Leichhardt was found, the expedition collected information which materially increased men's knowledge of the western section of the continent. Having covered himself with glory in this initial venture, he was, in 1874, appointed to the leadership of an expedition which was despatched from the west to ascertain the possibility of opening up overland communication with the eastern States. It was a hazardous undertaking. Forrest was not unaware of the frightful sufferings and tragic experiences of Eyre in the course of his long journey along the coast from east to west. But he embraced the high adventure with avidity and, by its triumphant success, earned fresh renown. The journey was a masterpiece of sagacity and endurance. When it was reported in Adelaide that the young man from the far west was approaching the city, the news was scouted as preposterous. When he actually entered the capital he was given the reception of a conquering hero.

Titanic Labours Worthily Acclaimed
But it was at the age of three score years and ten that his golden hour came to him. For in that year, owing almost entirely to his own dominating influence, he had the satisfaction of seeing the first train set out across that arid desert over which, 50 years earlier, he had himself tramped. It was the exciting climax of his brave record of achievement. Every Australian who has visited London has paused with gratification before the monument to Lord Forrest in St. Paul's Cathedral. It takes the form of a prelate's throne, carved in ancient oak and suitably inscribed, erected in the Chapel of the Order of St. Michael and St. George. It was in 1918, just as the First World War was closing, that his peerage was conferred upon him, and, in that same year, he died at sea.

But it is impossible to mention the name of Lord Forrest here in Australia without reminding ourselves that, in these broad dominions, there exists an ampler tribute to his fame than any represented by a splendid title or a stately monument. Not far from the Forrest Memorial in St. Paul's Cathedral is the celebrated tablet to Sir Christopher Wren, the builder of that glorious fane. "If you seek his monument," says the inscription, "look around!" On any monument set up in Australia to the illustrious memory of Lord Forrest, the selfsame words might fittingly be inscribed. Especially, of course, in the West. West Australians point with natural pride to the King's Park, to the goldfields water scheme, to the transcontinental railway, and to many other of his notable achievements; and, in connection with each, they speak with glowing tongue of his foresight, of his dauntlessness, and of his skill. Matching amazing ability with inexhaustible goodness of heart, the name of Lord Forrest stands in our annals as that of one of the most imposing figures that Australia has produced; and as, in the eventful years to come the nation grows in stature and in influence, his name is destined to shine, among the records of earth's greatest, with ever-increasing lustre.

F W Boreham

Image: Lord Forrest