MARITIME West Australiana –

 “Released in March 2019, this biography of the first Harbour Master for the whole Colony of Western Australia (other than Albany) is the story of George Forsyth’s continual battle to establish a safer maritime environment along the colony’s treacherous coastline. The book contains reproductions of George Forsyth’s maritime paintings and a foreword by the Hon Kerry Sanderson AC, former Governor of Western Australia and CEO of the Fremantle Port Authority. The story of George Forsyth is the story of the emerging colony itself in the mid to late nineteenth century, when self-interested politicians and administrators resisted George’s calls to establish safer maritime infrastructure and better conditions for the men who worked at sea and in the ports.”

George Forsyth arrived in Western Australia in the early 1860s, still in the era of wood and sail and at the beginning of the era of iron and steam. The port of Fremantle – a critical maritime hub for the colony – was desperately unfit to meet the demands of growing maritime activity.Forsyth battled snobbery, entitlement and antagonism in his efforts to secure better maritime infrastructure and working conditions. He risked his life in many emergencies at sea, was beaten up, had his throat cut and nearly drowned. For all his efforts he was contemptuously dismissed from his position of Harbour Master. Resilient and defiant, he went on to become a sea captain, plying the treacherous waters along Western Australia’s coast.Forsyth’s working life unfolded against a backdrop of dramatic change in Western Australia: the opening up of the colony, the end of the convict era, the quest for responsible government and the start of the Gold Rush.This book provides many fresh insights into the colony’s colourful maritime heritage and its evolving political and social dynamics.It also contains 16 of Forsyth’s artworks, many of which have not been seen before in public.

First Edition

• xi, 260 pages : illustrations, maps, facsimiles ; 24 cm #060224/190525
• Forsyth, George, 1843-1894
• Sailors — Western Australia — Biography
• Harbor masters — Western Australia — Biography
• Western Australia — History — 1851-1891