Alexander Forrest

Alexander Forrest, illustrated in John Forrest's 1875 Explorations in Australia

Alexander Forrest (1849 - 1901) was an explorer and surveyor of Western Australia.

Born on September 22 1849 at Picton in Western Australia, Forrest explored areas of Western Australia under contract to the Survey Department, particularly the Kimberley region, during the 1870s and 1880s. In 1887 he became a politician and later the Mayor of Perth and an investor.

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 to the east to the Murchison River. In 1879 Alexander led his own expedition of eight men from Roebourne, up the coast to Beagle Bay, then inland into the area now known as the Kimberley.

His Journal of an Expedition from De Gray to Port Darwin was published in 1880.

In 1891, through a syndicate comprising Charles Crossland and George Leake, Alexander Forrest commenced the subdivision of what would later become the upper-class suburb of Peppermint Grove.

He died on June 20 1901.

External link

• Photograph at the ACT Heritage Library Image Library