Gerald Lynch
The Sydenham and District Historical Society has commemorated the 100 year anniversary of the cairn commemorating the Hume and Hovell exploration, and the 200 year anniversary of the exploration itself.
On Monday, November 25, the group, along with local councillors, met at the cairn in front of Keilor Plains Station in St Albans, to reflect on the journey undertaken by Hamilton Hume and William Hovell in 1824.
The cairn monument was built in 1924 to mark the centenary of the exploration.
Sydenham and District Historical Society member Karen Schmidt, whose ancestors were involved in the exploration, spoke at the event.
“The story of their journey is amazing. They were aiming for Westernport but landed at Port Phillip Bay, and they didn’t realise until a couple of years later,” she said.
“Hume and Hovell took three men each on their exploration… the eight of them all made it back alive.”
Former mayor and now a member of the historical society Bruce Lancashire also gave a touching tribute to the explorers’ feat.
“There’s not too many things we can celebrate for 100 or even 200 years, this is quite a rare treat for us in Brimbank,” he said.
“Brimbank has a long history in settlement and this is a big part of it.”
Long standing society member Richard Carthew was the last to speak saying “people may not think this is a big deal… but this is a significant piece of history”.
The Sydenham and District Historical Society meets every second Friday of the month at 11am.
For more information, contact David Anderson on (03) 9307 6462.
