Warning: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this story features First Nations people who have died. Reader discretion is advised.
BUNBURY, WA — John Forrest was born on 22 August 1847, near Bunbury in Western Australia. Between the years of 1869 to 1874, Forrest led three expeditions, two of them with his brother Alexander, to explore the uncharted areas of Western Australia.
In 1869, he led the search for Ludwig Leichhardt’s party, which had gone missing on their trek across Australia from east to west, an unsuccessful search.
In 1870, he surveyed the route that Edward Eyre had taken in 1840-41 from Adelaide to Albany, across the Great Australian Bight.
In April 1874, the brothers departed Geraldton with three experienced white men, two aborigines and enough supplies for eight months, in search of a stock route and pastureland to the east.
During this expedition, on Saturday, June 13, 1874, the exploration party was allegedly attacked by Aborigines. The Aborigines retreated only when two of them were badly wounded by rifle fire.
It is thought that the Aborigines attacked because the Forrest party was camping on sacred ground.
