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Burke & Wills ExpeditionPrint Page Print this page

27-November-2020 (Ballarat City Council)
27-November-2020 (Ballarat City Council)

Photographs supplied by Kent Watson / Ballarat City Council

The fountain was erected in memory of those who perished in the Burke and Wills expedition of 1861.

In December 1861, the Eastern and Western Ballarat Councils met to discuss a memorial to the explorers. The architect Canute Andersen proposed a lavish clock tower worth £1000. By June 1862 they had only raised £79 and by the end of 1862 the fund stood at £370.

Sir Henry Barkly was invited to lay the foundation stone at the corner of Sturt and Lydiard Streets and then the councils ran into debt and the ugly bluestone foundation remained unfinished.

In March 1866, the Western Municipal Council decided to complete the monument. Another foundation stone was laid in June 1867 and the fountain was finished by the end of the year. The original inscriptions only included those who had died and no reference was made to King. His inscription was added after his death.

Location

Address:Sturt & Lydiard Streets, Ballarat, 3350
State:VIC
Area:AUS
GPS Coordinates:Lat: -37.561954
Long: 143.857515
Note: GPS Coordinates are approximate.
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Details

Monument Type:Fountain
Monument Theme:Landscape
Sub-Theme:Exploration
Designer:Canute Andersen

Dedication

Approx. Monument Dedication Date:1867
Front Inscription

             IN MEMORY OF
THE EXPLORERS WHO PERISHED
           WHILE CROSSING
THE AUSTRALIAN CONTINENT
       IN THE YEAR OF 1861. 

Left Side Inscription

    JOHN KING
The Only Survivor
       Of The
 EXPEDITION
 Died At St Kilda
January 15th 1872.

Back Inscription

         ERECTED
BY THE INHABITANTS OF
        BALLAARAT

Right Side Inscription

ROBERT O`HARA BURKE, LEADER,
         Died 30th June 1861
 WILLIAM JOHN WILLS, SECOND,
        Died 30th June 1861
LUDWIG BECKER, NATURALIST,
       Died 29th April 1861
CHARLES GREY, ASSISTANT,
       Died 17th April 1861

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