Hume & Hovell Print Page

The cairn commemorates the explorers Hume and Hovell who passed through the area in 1824. The cairn was unveiled in 1924, the centenary year of their exploration. 

In 1824, Hamilton Hume and William Hovell led an expedition of discovery to find new grazing land for the colony. They and their party trekked south from Appin to Lake George, then on into Victoria, keeping west of the Great Dividing Range and ending up at Corio Bay, on the Victorian coast, where present day Geelong is situated. Hovell mistakenly believed they had arrived at Westernport, and did not realise his mistake until after his return.

Monuments, cairns or plaques commemorating this expedition were erected at Allan`s Flat, Avenel, Back Creek, Barjarg, Bellbridge, Broadford, Bulla, Deer Park, Ebden, Euroa, Everton, Hansonville, Hume Reservoir, Kilmore, Lara, Lima South, Meadow Creek, Molyullah, Mount Buffalo, Moyhu, Murmungee, Myrtleford, Samaria, Samaria West, Seymour, Staghorn Flat, St Albans, Stanley, Strath Creek, Swanpool, Tatong (Dodd`s Crossing), Violet Town, Warrenbayne West, Werribee, Whorouly, Woodfield Yarck and Yea.

The location of the plaques erected at Lima South is unknown.  It is believed that the plaque at Hansonville has come from another location as the date on the plaque does not match the date that the expedition was there.

Further arrangements for the unveiling of memorials on the course taken by Hume and Hovell in their journey across Victoria in 1824 were made at a meeting of the Hume and Hovell Centenary Committee yesterday. Sir James Barrett presided.   On December 6, in the Upper Plenty district, near Wallan, an excursion is to be made to Mount Disappointment, which will be preceded by the unveiling of a memorial by Mr. C. R. Long of the Education department. On December 11, ceremonies will be performed at Broadford, Kilmore, and Bulla, and on December 19 at Werribee, Deer Park, and St. Albans.  Arrangements are well advanced for a ceremony at Lara, near Geelong, which was the terminal of the expedition. A memorial is to be unveiled in that district on December 17 by the Postmaster-General  (Mr. Gibson). 
Argus (Melbourne), 3 December 1924.        

HUME-HOVELL CENTENARY.
With the unveiling ceremony of memorials at St. Alban's, Deer Park, and Werribee, commemorating the historical overland journey of the Australian explorers, Hume and Hovell, in 1824, the chain of monuments stretching from the Murray River to Lara, on Corio Bay, has been completed. The route followed by the explorers intersects the four arterial roads from Melbourne to Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo, and Sydney, and cairns have been erected at prominent points on each of these highways. Sir James Barrett, assisted Miss Ellen M'Donald and Master Reginald Hume, unveiled the monument at St. Alban's; Miss Bernie Hume, the little daughter of Mr. W. R. Hume, performed the ceremony at Deer Park ; and Miss Mary Cunningham, the daughter of the president of the Werribee Shire unveiled the Werribee memorial. 
Albury Banner and Wodonga Express (NSW), 26 December 1924.    

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