Bendigo Monument

Back Creek Cemetery , Carpenter Street , Quarry Hill, Bendigo . Victoria 3550.


	ERECTED BY THE PEOPLE OF BENDIGO IN HONOUR OF THE VICTORIAN EXPLORERS BURKE, WILLS, GRAY & KING WHO FIRST CROSSED THE CONTINENT OF AUSTRALIA KING ALONE SUFFERING THE PRIVATION AND SUFFERING, UNDER WHICH HIS THREE BRAVE ILL-FATED COMPANIONS SANK. AD 1862


	ROBERT O’HARA BURKE , LEADER OF THE VICTORIAN EXPEDITION LEFT MELBOURNE 24 TH AUGst 1860 REACHED CARPENTARIA 12 TH FEBy 1861 DIED ON HIS RETURN AT COOPERS CREEK 30 TH JUNE 1861


	WILLIAM JOHN WILLS SECOND IN COMMAND DIED ALSO NEAR COOPERS CREEK 29 TH JUNE 1861


	CHARLES GRAY DIED ALSO ON HIS RETURN AT POLYGONUM SWAMP 17 TH APRIL 1861

Thomas Pope Besnard was a childhood friend of Burke’s and sexton of the local Back Creek Cemetery . He pushed to raise the money for a monument.. Every one was asked to pay a shilling – no person could pay more and therefore no body could claim to have given more than anybody else. Adam Duncan designed the monument - a Corinthian column mounted on a foundation stone and topped with a Grecian urn draped with the Union Jack. The stone was quarried from New Chum Mine.

Besnard selected a site for the monument in the cemetery which was on a grass knoll well clear of any other graves. It was to be landscaped and have path and garden beds that provided dignified access. Stawell inspected and approved the site.

The foundation block was laid on the 20th August 1862 – exactly two years after the Expedition left Melbourne . The council declared a half day holiday and a procession left the Town Hall and marched to the cemetery. 8000 people gathered at the cemetery and another 4000 lined the route. John King was unable to attend due to ill health.

The foundation stone was laid by Charles Burrows, Chairman of the Municipality of Bendigo . The address he gave, along with the diaries of members of the expedition, the Sandhurst Almanac, the Bendigo Advertiser, the Bendigo Independent Evening News, photographs of the deceased, photographs of Public Buildings in Bendigo, a Sydney half sovereign and all the silver coins of the Realm were wrapped in a Union Jack and placed in a niche in the foundation stone.

It was another 15 months before the column was erected on the foundation stone and Besnard openly criticised the Memorial Committee for their lack of action.

The Bendigo Advertiser was disappointed at the location of the monument preferring a more central location and in 1893 an attempt was made to move the monument to Rosalind Park. On the 19th May 1893, Mr Minto, the City Surveyor reported that it would cost £25. Nothing became of this attempted move, but there have been three further attempts at moving the memorial.

In 1940 the land around the memorial was sold off as grave sites and the paths and garden beds disappeared and now graves crowd right up to the base of the monument.

Heritage Listing

The Burke and Wills Monument in Bendigo has been entered on the Register of the National Estate as being important for its association with historical events and developments associated with exploration in the early days of Colony of Victoria. Two conifers remain from the original group sent by Mueller of the Melbourne Botanical Gardens to develop the garden layout on the knoll. These two trees are listed as Significant Trees by City of Greater Bendigo.

Legal status: Indicative property. Data provided to or obtained by the Heritage Division has been entered into the database. However, a formal nomination has not been made and the Department has not prepared all the data necessary for a nomination.

Place ID: 100457
Place File No: 2/06/200/0057
Victorian Heritage Register citation: H1814
http://www.deh.gov.au/heritage/index.html

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BENDIGO MONUMENT

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© Dave Phoenix, 2008