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Point Ormond Quarantine StationPrint Page Print this page

18-July-2015
18-July-2015

Photographs supplied by Chris McLaughlin

The cairn marks the site of Victoria's first quarantine station which was established in 1840. It was erected as a project to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the State of Victoria. 

In 1840 an overcrowded emigrant ship from Scotland called the "Glen Huntly" arrived in Port Phillip. The ship was flying the yellow fever flag, alarming the inhabitants of the small town of Melbourne. Lieutenant Governor Charles La Trobe ordered Victoria`s first quarantine station to be set up at Point Ormond.

The rough canvas town under guard was exposed to bitterly cold and wet weather. Of the original 157 emigrants who had boarded the barque in Argyleshire, ten had already died at sea. The three men who subsequently died at the station were buried on the bluff, which thereby became St Kilda`s first official graveyard. For years the three graves were enclosed by a picket fence before erosion forced the reburial in 1898.

Location

Address:Glenhuntly Road, Point Ormond, Elwood, 3184
State:VIC
Area:AUS
GPS Coordinates:Lat: -37.88155
Long: 144.976851
Note: GPS Coordinates are approximate.
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Details

Monument Type:Monument
Monument Theme:Disaster
Sub-Theme:Pandemic
Actual Event Start Date:24-April-1840
Actual Event End Date:24-April-1990

Dedication

Actual Monument Dedication Date:Thursday 7th November, 1985
Front Inscription

Plaque :

This cairn marks the site of Victoria`s first Quarantine Station which was established on the 24th April 1840 when the Government emigrant ship "Glen Huntley" arrived in the Port Phillip District flying the yellow quarantine flag.  The site became St. Kilda`s first official burial ground and the graves of the  early colonists remained here until 1898 when the remains were re-interred in the St. Kilda Cemetery.

Unveiled by the Hon. R. W. Walsh MLA 
Member for Albert Park
Minister for Public Works
Assistant Minister for Employment and Industrial Affairs

7th November, 1985

This project was initiated by the Historical Society of St. Kilda and sponsored by the Lions Club of Elwood for the 150th anniversary of the State of Victoria.

 

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