Frank HawsonPrint Page 
The Memorial, erected over the grave, commemorates ten year old Frank Hawson who was the first European person to be killed by aborigines on Eyre Peninsula. No natives were charged over the incident. The body was removed from its original burial place and reburied at its present site in 1911.
Frank and his brother were camped at an outstation known as Little Swamp, about three miles from Port Lincoln, in 1840. While his brother was in town getting supplies, some aborigines approached the hut and Frank opened the door. He received two barbed spears in his chest in exchange for a gun wound to one of the aborigines, all of whom then ran away. Hawson lying down with the shafts in the fire, attempted to cut the spears out, and then to burn them out.
His brother found him in this position eleven hours after the spearing. He cut off the shafts, and took his Frank on horseback to Port Lincoln where he died.
Through the efforts of the local progress committee, assisted by a number of school children, recently about £31 was collected to erect a memorial over the grave of Frank Hawson, who was killed by the blacks in 1840. At a meeting of the committee, held last night, arrangements were made to obtain a suitable stone and have it erected at once. As some doubt existed as to the exact location of the grave a member of the committee, acting on the directions of a local resident, sank a hole about a chain away from the site marked out for many years, and came on portions of the coffin about 4 ft. down. Although it had remained in the ground for over 70 years, the wood, which appeared to be cedar, was fairly well preserved. The coffin was left undisturbed.
Owing to difficulties in obtaining permission to erect a monument on a public road, it was decided to remove the remains to Hawson place, a public reserve a few hundred yards nearer the Kirton Point Jetty, on a gentle slope facing the sea. The spot selected is considered an ideal one, and as the reserve is named, after Capt. Hawson, the boy's father, and one of the first settlers, it is particularly appropriate. The committee intends to have a reburial service, and will invite all the children in the district. A search will be made for the end of the spear which entered the body and killed the lad.
The Register (Adelaide), 18 November 1910.
Location
| Address: | Kali Grove, Hawson Place, Port Lincoln, 5606 |
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| State: | SA |
| Area: | AUS |
| GPS Coordinates: | Lat: -34.722838 Long: 135.878274 Note: GPS Coordinates are approximate. |
Details
| Monument Type: | Grave |
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| Monument Theme: | People |
| Sub-Theme: | Tragedy |
| Actual Event Start Date: | 05-October-1840 |
| Actual Event End Date: | 05-October-1840 |
Dedication
| Actual Monument Dedication Date: | Tuesday 30th May, 1911 |
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Erected by public subscription through the Port Lincoln Progress Committee
In memory of Frank Hawson
Aged 10 years
Who was speared by the blacks
October 5th 1840.
Buried in Trafalgar Street
1840.
Re-interred under this monument
March 30th 1911.
Although only a lad he died a hero.
Gone but not forgotten
