www.monumentaustralia.org.au

Pioneer Women of VictoriaPrint Page Print this page

Pioneer Women`s Memorial : 25-June-2011
Pioneer Women`s Memorial : 25-June-2011

Photographs supplied by Graeme Saunders

The garden was established by Victorian women to commemorate the pioneering women of the State. Two plaques are set one on each side. One commemorates the pioneer women of Victoria at the 100th anniversary of Victoria from 1834 to 1934.  The garden was dedicated by the Women`s Centenary Council, and unveiled June 1935.

The second plaque indicates the garden was erected to the pioneer women on 24 November 1934 by Premier, Sir Stanley Seymour Argyle. The plaque was unveiled by Lady Huntingfield on 8 June 1935. There is a tree planted by the Quota Club of Melbourne in 1960 and a casket containing sheets of remembrance to the pioneer women also buried here.

Hugh Linaker’s garden is set in a circular depression, with a high wall of rough masonry covering the cutting at its southern end. This formal, symmetrical garden is traversed by a watercourse in the shape of a cross, which flows into a grotto carved into the cutting. Built into the grotto is a half-cupola lined with blue tiles, under which stands the small bronze statue of a woman by the sculptor Charles Web Gilbert.

In 1933, The Women’s Centenary Council was formed in an attempt to give the women of the state an influential role in the celebrations. At its first meeting, this council pledged to erect a suitable memorial to Victoria’s pioneer women, and fundraising initiatives were established with the aim of developing a garden of remembrance in Kings Domain.

The council’s initiatives included the sale of a commemorative book and ‘sheets of remembrance’ onto which anyone, for one shilling, could inscribe their own name, or that of an ancestor. This was very successful and thousands of names were gathered and then buried beneath the sundial in the garden. The work was carried out under the auspices of the Unemployment Relief Program during the Depression.

 

Location

Address:Alexandra Avenue, Pioneer Women`s Memorial Garden, Kings Domain, Melbourne, 3000
State:VIC
Area:AUS
GPS Coordinates:Lat: -37.825182
Long: 144.976029
Note: GPS Coordinates are approximate.
View Google Map

Details

Monument Type:Garden
Monument Theme:Landscape
Sub-Theme:Settlement
Designer:Hugh Linaker
Artist:Charles Web Gilbert

Dedication

Actual Monument Dedication Date:Saturday 24th November, 1934
Left Side Inscription

To honour the memory of the Pioneer Women of Victoria

This garden was dedicated by the Womens Centenary Council through public subscription on the 100th anniversary of the foundation of the State.

1834 - 1934.

Unveiled June 8th 1935 by Mrs. I. H. Moss. O.B.E., J.P. President

 

Right Side Inscription

Centenary of Victoria, 1934

This garden was dedicated to the Pioneer Women of Victoria on November, 24th 1934 by Sir Stanley Argyle K.B.E., M.R.C.S., M.L.A. Premier of Victoria

Unveiled 8th June, 1935 by Lady Huntingfield

Wife of the Governor of Victoria

 

Inscription in Proximity

Plaque on sundial :

This base holds the casket containing the Sheets of Remembrance to the Pioneer Women of Victoria

1834 - 1934 

Source: MA,VMR,RHSV
Monument details supplied by Monument Australia - www.monumentaustralia.org.au