What did John Forrest sail to and discover?

Answer 1

John Forrest did not sail anywhere. He was born in Western Australia, and undertook all of his exploration in Western Australia, travelling overland and using horses rather than ships. John Forrest's discoveries were not so much important lands or major rivers, but his explorations were still important as they opened up areas of Western Australia about which little had been previously known.

In 1869, Forrest led the search for Ludwig Leichhardt's expedition which had gone missing while travelling across Australia from east to west. This search was unsuccessful, but it gave Forrest the chance to do what he wished, which was to explore the uncharted areas of Western Australia.

In 1870, Forrest surveyed the route which Edward Eyre had taken in 1840-41 from Adelaide to Albany, across the Great Australian Bight. As the main route from eastern Australia overland to the west, he realised it needed to be surveyed so a road could be built, and later a railway.