Perth Voice Interactive

PHOTOGRAPHER Greg Branson has traced his great grandfather’s perilous journey across the Aussie outback to create a stunning exhibition that blends history and art.

In 1874, James Patrick Sweeny and five other intrepid explorers led by John Forrest set out from Perth to find untapped grazing lands in WA.

Sweeny, Branson’s great grandfather, meticulously kept a diary of their daily struggles and triumphs, often going into revealing detail about the expidition.

“The most revealing thing about the diaries is the perseverance they show. The daily search for water was relentless,” Branson says.

“Even when they found good watering holes they had to scout ahead to find the next. There was no thought of turning back.

“They were determined to continue the journey knowing it may be the end for them.”

To commemorate the 150th anniversary of the expedition, Brandon decided to retrace his great grandfather’s steps – photographing some of the remote locations he mentioned in his diary.

A lot of the areas are now privately owned or Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara lands, but Branson was still able to get 24 cracking shots that complement the diary perfectly and give you a feel of the harsh, arid landscape they encountered.

“The trip was a comparative success because all explorers survived,” Branson says.

“The previous expeditions resulted in death or severe illnesses. They found some small grazing lands but not enough to support farming.

“John Forrest mapped a lot of the country and recorded the flora in great detail but admitted that there was very little chance of settlement in the centre.

“For my great grandfather, the farrier, the biggest disappointment would have been of the 20 horses they left Geraldton with only four survived to get to Adelaide.

“The death of the horses caused severe problems as it left the explorers having to take turns walking in the latter weeks of the expedition.”

Branson says he got a bit emotional when taking a photo at Sanford River, almost at the exact spot where his great grandfather had written a diary entry 150 years ago.

The rigours of the expedition are perfectly caught in Sweeny’s entry from August 6, 1874:

‘We have also left a high pile of stones and a pole about 5 feet above the surface of the ground as we intend making a start tomorrow and make Mr Gosse’s track or Giles and don’t think we shall water for some 150 miles from here. We have buried everything we could do without so as to carry all the water we can as we intend to risk our lives. Run the Old Hog or none and know the Government of West Australia will send a party to look for us if we don’t get back so we have left a good land mark and it would be satisfaction to our friends in Perth to know we got this far. We are praying to the creator of all things to guide us to water.’

A year after returning to Perth, at the end of the expedition, Sweeny married Elizabeth Shea in Fremantle and they went on to have three sons and three daughters.

He served as a farrier for the police in West Kimberley from 1886-7, wrote diaries about being a trooper in the northern goldfields, and became a police constable in Perth in 1889, before resigning in 1918.

Branson’s photographic exhibition Ink to Image: Celebrating James Patrick Sweeny: an ordinary man on an extraordinary expedition, opens March 18 at Perth Town Hall, just a few metres from where the expedition left exactly 150 years ago.

There will be another family link at the exhibition with Sweeny’s great-great-granddaughter Melissa Fitzgerald playing classical guitar with her quartet at the opening. The music is inspired by the Gascoyne area. 

Ink to Image is on from March 18-22. Tix at events.humanitix.com/from-ink-to-image.

by STEPHEN POLLOCK