imported>Shcmilly: Reorganised page and added refrences to Alexander's Rascism

2025-09-11T04:25:25Z

Reorganised page and added refrences to Alexander's Rascism

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{{Short description|Australian politician}}
{{For|the Scottish association football player|Alex Forrest (disambiguation){{!}}Alex Forrest}}
{{Use Australian English|date=August 2021}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|honorific-prefix = [[The Honourable]]
|name = Alexander Forrest
|honorific-suffix = [[Order of St Michael and St George|CMG]]
|image = Alexander Forrest - Project Gutenberg eBook 9958.jpg
|image_size =150px
|office = Member of the [[Western Australian Legislative Council|Legislative Council]]<br/>of [[Western Australia]]
|constituency = [[Electoral district of Kimberley (Legislative Council)|Kimberley]]
|term_start = 1 February 1887
|term_end = 21 October 1890
|predecessor = None
|successor = None
|office2 = Member of the [[Western Australian Legislative Assembly|Legislative Assembly]]<br/>of [[Western Australia]]
|constituency2 = [[Electoral district of West Kimberley|West Kimberley]]
|term_start2 = 27 November 1890
|term_end2 = 20 June 1901
|predecessor2 = None {{Small|(new creation)}}
|successor2 = [[Sydney Pigott]]
|birth_date = {{Birth date|1849|9|22|df=y}}
|birth_place = [[Bunbury, Western Australia|Bunbury]], [[Western Australia]]
|death_date = {{Death date and age|1901|6|20|1849|9|22|df=y}}
|death_place = [[Perth, Western Australia]]
}}
[[Image:AlexanderForrestStatue gobeirne crop.jpg|thumb|right|212px|Detail of the statue by [[Pietro Porcelli]]]]
'''Alexander Forrest''' [[Order of St Michael and St George|CMG]] (22 September 1849 – 20 June 1901) was an explorer and [[surveying|surveyor]] of [[Western Australia]], and later also a member of parliament.

As a government surveyor, Forrest explored many areas of remote Western Australia, particularly the [[Kimberley (Western Australia)|Kimberley]] region. Several of his expeditions were conducted alongside his brother, [[John Forrest]], who became the first [[Premier of Western Australia]]. In later life, Forrest served in the unicameral [[Western Australian Legislative Council|Legislative Council]] from 1887 to 1890, representing the [[Electoral district of Kimberley (Legislative Council)|seat of Kimberley]]. Following the advent of [[responsible government]], he was elected to the [[Western Australian Legislative Assembly|Legislative Assembly]], representing the [[Electoral district of West Kimberley|seat of West Kimberley]] from 1890 until his death. He was also [[List of mayors and lord mayors of Perth|mayor of Perth]] on two occasions, from 1892 to 1895 and from 1897 to 1900.<ref name=ADB>{{cite Australian Dictionary of Biography |id2=forrest-alexander-6208 |title=Alexander Forrest (1849–1901) |access-date=15 August 2025 |author=G. C. Bolton |volume=8 |year=1981 |pages=540–543}}</ref>

==Early life==
Forrest was born at Picton, near [[Bunbury, Western Australia|Bunbury]] in Western Australia, the fourth of nine sons of William and Margaret Forrest.<ref name=ADB/><ref name=Muir>{{cite book|last=Muir|first=Alison & Dinee|title=Forrest Family, Pioneers of Western Australia, 1842–1982|publisher=J.R. Muir & Son|year=1982|isbn=0-9592883-0-9}}</ref> He was educated at the government school in Bunbury under [[John Hislop]], then completed his education at [[Hale School]] in [[Perth, Western Australia|Perth]].

==Exploring career==
Forrest explored areas of Western Australia under contract to the Survey Department, particularly the [[Kimberley region of Western Australia|Kimberley]] region, during the 1870s and 1880s.
Much of his exploration was done with his brother [[John Forrest]] who became the first [[Premier of Western Australia]].

In 1870, a party of six men including Alexander and his brother John left Perth. Five months later they reached Adelaide. In 1874, Alexander was part of another party again including brother John which took a more northerly route from [[Geraldton, Western Australia|Geraldton]] to the east to the [[Murchison River (Western Australia)|Murchison River]].

In 1879, Alexander led his own expedition of eight men from [[De Grey River]] to the telegraph line into the area now known as the [[Kimberley (Western Australia)|Kimberley]]. The expedition left on 25 February 1879 and reached [[Beagle Bay Community, Western Australia|Beagle Bay]] on 10 April 1879. The coast was then skirted to the [[Fitzroy River (Western Australia)|Fitzroy River]] which was followed for 240 miles (390 km); but Forrest's progress was then stopped by mountains which appeared to be impassable. He eventually worked round the southern end of the range and discovered some valuable country. Good water was found until the [[Victoria River (Northern Territory)|Victoria River]] was reached on 18 August 1879, but great difficulties were met with before reaching the telegraph line 13 days later. From there they made their way to [[Palmerston, Northern Territory|Palmerston]], then the capital of the [[Northern Territory]], and they arrived on 7 October 1879. The party was often in danger of starvation, on more than one occasion a packhorse had to be killed for food, and in the last dash for the telegraph line, Forrest and one companion who had gone on ahead almost perished from thirst. The two [[Aboriginal Australians|Aboriginal]] assistants were quite helpless for the last 300 miles (480 km) of the journey, and one of them never recovered from its effects, dying a few months later. The expedition ranks among the most valuable pieces of Australian exploration as large tracts of good pasturage were discovered. Forrest published his ''Journal of Expedition from De Grey to Port Darwin'' in Perth in 1880.<ref name=DAB>{{cite web |url=http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks15/1500721h/0-dict-biogF.html#forrest1 |title=Forrest, Alexander |access-date=26 August 2007 |author=Percival Serle |author-link=Percival Serle |work=[[Dictionary of Australian Biography]] |publisher=Angus & Robertson |year=1949}}</ref>

In 1891, through a syndicate comprising Charles Crossland and [[George Leake]], Alexander Forrest commenced the subdivision of what would later become the affluent Perth suburb of [[Peppermint Grove, Western Australia|Peppermint Grove]]. He was also associated with the first of three quarries that exist on the edge of Greenmount Hill. In 1893, he negotiated the contract with the [[Adelaide Steamship Company]] for serving Western Australian ports.
[[Image:Alexander Forrest statue.jpg|thumb|right|212px|A statue of Forrest stands at the entrance to [[Stirling Gardens]] in [[St Georges Terrace, Perth]]]]

==Political career==
In 1887, Forrest became a politician, entering the [[Western Australian Legislative Council]] as the first (and only) member for the [[Electoral district of Kimberley (Legislative Council)|seat of Kimberley]]. He was then elected to the [[Western Australian Legislative Assembly|Legislative Assembly]] for [[Electoral district of West Kimberley|West Kimberley]] in 1890, and held the seat until his death. He was also [[List of Mayors and Lord Mayors of Perth|Mayor of Perth]] 1893–95 and 1898–1900, and later an investor.

=== Advocacy and Racism ===
While in Parliament, Alexander Forrest consistently supported and argued for state backed violence against indigenous people.{{Citation needed|date=September 2025}} In an 1888 speech to Parliament Forrest advocated for state terrorism against indigenous people.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Review: Genocide in the Kimberley |url=https://marxistleftreview.org/articles/review-genocide-in-the-kimberley/ |access-date=2025-09-11 |website=Marxist Left Review |language=en}}</ref>

== Honours and Death ==
He was made a Companion of the [[Order of St Michael and St George]] (CMG) on 15 May 1901,<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=27314 |date=17 May 1901 |page=3379}}</ref> in preparation of the forthcoming royal visit of the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York (later [[George V|King George V]] and [[Mary of Teck|Queen Mary]]).

Forrest died on 20 June 1901 at Perth of complications arising from kidney trouble.<ref name=ADB/> He was survived by four of his five children (his son [[Anthony Alexander Forrest]] having been killed the month before in the [[Second Boer War]]), and was buried at [[Karrakatta Cemetery]].<ref name=ADB/>

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
* Forrest, Alexander. ''North-West exploration : journal of expedition from DeGrey to Port Darwin''. Perth : Gov. Printer, 1880. 43 p. Western Australia. Parliamentary paper ; No. 3, 1880
* Accompanying map: "Map showing the route from Nickol Bay to S.A. telegraph ..." by Chas Youle Dean

==External links==
{{Commons}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20051122213307/http://www.basis.act.gov.au/DUSLibrary/ImagesACT.nsf/3506a89b45287c52ca256abc000c49a8/af6c31bd6a357fdd4a256d8d001c1069?OpenDocument Photograph at the ACT Heritage Library Image Library]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Forrest, Alexander}}
[[Category:1849 births]]
[[Category:1901 deaths]]
[[Category:Australian explorers]]
[[Category:Burials at Karrakatta Cemetery]]
[[Category:Colony of Western Australia people]]
[[Category:Explorers of Australia]]
[[Category:Explorers of Western Australia]]
[[Category:People educated at Hale School]]
[[Category:People from Bunbury, Western Australia]]
[[Category:Mayors and lord mayors of Perth, Western Australia]]
[[Category:Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly]]
[[Category:Members of the Western Australian Legislative Council]]
[[Category:19th-century Australian politicians]]

Alexander Forrest - Revision history

imported>Shcmilly: Reorganised page and added refrences to Alexander's Rascism