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John Forrest's 1874 trek from Geraldton to Adelaide, Australia

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    • Forrest’s Exploration Diaries now online
    • John Forrest’s and Alexander Forrest’s diaries of the 1874 trek available as digital copies online soon.
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    March 29, 2018February 12, 2021 by projectteam

    John Forrest’s and Alexander Forrest’s diaries of the 1874 trek available as digital copies online soon.

    Here is a sneak peak.

    bothdiariesKeep a look out on the State Library of Western Australia catalogue.

    Post navigation

    Next Forrest’s Exploration Diaries now online

    What does shewing mean?

    You may notice the word ‘shewing’ on the 1874 trek map. Shew is the old-fashioned spelling of show. https://en.oxforddictionaries.com

    Tommy Pierre’s speech at the Perth Town Hall

    “Well, gentlemen I am very thankful to come back to the Swan River, to Bunbury, to Fremantle and Perth. I thought we was never going to get back. Many a time I go into camp in the morning, going through desert place, and swear and curse and say, ‘Master, where, the deuce are you going to take us?’ I say to him, ‘I’ll give you a pound to take us back.’ Master say, ‘Hush, what are you talking about; I will take you all right through to Adelaide,’ and I always obey him. Gentlemen I am thankful I am in the Town Hall and that’s all I got to say”. Quoted in F.K. Crowley, Forrest 1847-1918, St Lucia 1971, Vol 1, p 76.

    Sir John Forrest went by boat to Geraldton

    John Forrest’s expedition team left Perth on 18 March 1874. However John sailed on a brig, the Centaur, while his expedition party took the supplies and horses to meet him in Geraldton.

    South Australia’s Welcome to John Forrest ESQ

    South Australia greeted the expedition party with a poem.

    ‘Right glad I am to meet thee, and greet thee gallant friend,
    With congratulating welcome and the warmest I can lend;
    And I truly offer thee as the leader in command
    The kindliest-meant reception to each member of the band.’

    Find the a full version of the poem through Trove
    South Australian Register (Adelaide, SA: 1839-1900), Tuesday 3 November 1874, page 6

    The wild wilderness

    ‘P.C. Haydon arrived yesterday with letters and left this morning he will be the last white man we see for six months, we may now say that we are in the wild wilderness. ‘ Alexander Forrest, 20 April 1874

    In the words of James Kennedy.

    In a 1922 interview with ‘Canmore’ of the Moora Herald and Midlands District Advocate, James Kennedy is quoted as saying “The Late Lord Forrest lost 20lbs in weight during the trip, and I gained just that amount, despite the fact that for six weeks on one occasion our diet was restricted to flour and water”. Moora Herald and Midland Districts Advocate (WA: 1914 -1930), Friday 17 February 1933, page 4.

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    Attributions

    Google Maps have been provided for use under Map Data © 2018 Google.

    Some images have been used from Explorations in Australia by John Forrest, Forrest, J. 1875. Sampson Low, Marston, Low & Searle. Londonan ebook by Project Gutenbergy. The Project Gutenberg License.

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    • From Another View
    • warnings, protocols and disclaimers
    • NAIDOC Week 2019 – Panel Discussion
    • Lecture: John Forrest, the British Empire and the Empty Spaces of the World
    • Exhibitions
    • Creative Interpretation
    • Community Engagement
    • Research
    • Education Programs
    • Updates
    • Contact Us
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