Friday, June 17, 2011

EXPLORERS HISTORICAL MEMORIALS

This letter to the editor dated 1932 suggested the erection of three granite memorials. One for the City of Canberra's place of discovery near Duntroon, One at Pine Island in Canberra's south and a possible final one at Isabella's Plain at Tuggeranong.

Firstly I like memorials to significant events and people. I like reading their brass plates and discovering the place's European history. I can stand at Botany Bay at the point of Cook's landing and read the 'plate' or signage.

I can go to the 'Hovell tree' at Albury where the explorers Hume and Hovell carved their names on a tree on 17th Nov 1824 and know this because I can definitively locate the place and read the hopefully informative signage.


Fredrick Watson of Gungahleen gives us some pretty good reasons why the aforementioned Canberra places are significant, names the men associated and suggested erecting granite memorials. I could only find a few links to the main player's bios. Joseph Wild - Charles Throsby - James Vaughan - Mark John Currie - J Owens -

Is it ever too late to erect a memorial to an historic event from a communities past?

Perhaps before the ACT buys it's next $400K fibreglass owl we might look at spending some of the budget on something that has meaning and would be significant to us as a community. Eighty years on Freddie's idea still seems appropriate.

The Canberra Times - Thursday 3 November 1932


National Library of Australia

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