Many of the men are making very comfortable homes for themselves; they can see that the field is permanent, and that they may hope to remain here. Collie will, I predict, be in the future one of the principal towns of the colony.
CHAPTER IX
Bunbury—Exploring Days—The Estuary—Early Times—Whaling—Native murder—Mr. Layman—Retribution—Pasture Land—Robert Scott—Old Residents.
Paper Bark Tree
Bunbury is 13 miles from Collie, and is the terminus of this line of railway. In passing through Picton, 4 miles before you come to Bunbury, you can see the homestead of the Forrest family. It is a picturesque-looking old house on a little hill with a pretty brook running below, and the surroundings are very beautiful. Mr. William Forrest, the ex-Premier’s father, who recently passed away at the ripe age of 80 years, arrived in this colony by the ship Trusty in 1842, and first settled at Australind. Some three years later he erected a mill on what has since been called Mill Point, on the banks of the estuary near Bunbury, and in 1849 removed to Picton, where he resided until the day of his death. Mr. Forrest bore with indomitable courage many misfortunes, such as the burning of his flour-mill, the engine and stones of which were afterwards removed to Bunbury, and formed the nucleus of the well-known Koombanah Mill, now owned by Mr. Robert Forrest, his sixth son. The above-mentioned mill was the first water flour-mill in the South-West, and was erected in 1849. Mr. Forrest dammed up the Preston river and utilised it for the purpose of his business. You may be sure that he was particularly proud of his explorer sons, John and Alick, and also proud of the fact that one was Premier of the colony, and the other Mayor of Perth. Sir John made three exploring expeditions, and it is amusing to hear what “Tommy Pierre,” one of the natives who accompanied him, said at the banquet held in honour of the explorers’ return to Perth: “Well, gentlemen, I am very thankful to get back to Swan river, Bunbury, Fremantle; I thought that we never get back again. Many a time I go into camp, going through desert places, and say, ‘Master Forrest, where the devil are you going to? Master Forrest, I give you one pound to take me back.’ Master say: ‘Hush! What are you talking about? I’ll take you right through to Adelaide,’ and I hush. I always obey him; I only black fellow, you know, but I am all thankful; I always very glad to see white fellow around me.” The South Australian Register, of August 27, 1870, says: “On Saturday morning, the band of explorers from Western Australia, under the leadership of Mr. John Forrest, reached Adelaide. They were escorted to Government House by a number of horsemen, and the crowd heartily cheered them as they came up. These men are heroes in the highest sense of the term. The expedition, as many in Western Australia still remember, was organised through the instrumentality of Governor Weld.” The late Premier, who a year before had piloted an expedition to search for the remains of the explorer Leichhart, readily acquiesced in the suggestions that were put forward by the then Governor of the colony, and on March 30, 1870, accompanied by Mr. Alex. Forrest as second in command; H. M’Larty, a police constable; W. H. Osborne, farrier, &c., and two natives, he set out for Perth. The party followed the course taken out by Eyre in 1841, but in an opposite direction, and although they did not experience the difficulties that Eyre encountered, the troubles were numerous enough. On March 18, 1874, Sir John Forrest led another expedition to Adelaide. From Perth his party proceeded to Champion Bay, and the wild, untrodden desert was safely crossed. On November 3, the explorers reached Adelaide, and at a banquet which was given in their honour a few days afterwards, the Premier of South Australia (the Hon. Arthur Blyth), speaking of the leader, said: “Here we have the likeness of a man who knew not what fear was, because he never saw fear—who carried out the thorough principle of the Briton, in that he always persevered to the end.”
LADY FORREST