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Enterprize Landing MemorialPrint Page 
A monument commemorates the first settlers from John Pascoe Fawkner`s ship Enterprize, who landed in Melbourne in 1835.
Melbourne was founded on Sunday, August 30, 1835, by the settlers from the schooner Enterprize. They landed on the north bank of the Yarra River, close to where Customs House (Immigration Museum) stands today and the place now known as Enterprize Park.
The people came from Launceston in Van Diemens Land, and they were after land for grazing sheep. They were led by John Lancey, who was put in that position by John Pascoe Fawkner. Fawkner owned the boat, but did not sail on its first trip into the Port Phillip District because he was forced behind by creditors.
They picked the site [roughly under Queens Bridge] because there was a small waterfall, or rapids, that stopped further progress up the river. The waterfall also separated the tidal movement from fresh water at that site. The waterfall had previously been found and noted by the Colony of New South Wales` surveyor, Charles Grimes, in 1803.
Note: The name of the ship is also spelt "Enterprise."
Location
| Address: | Flinders Street, Queens Bridge, near Enterprize Wharf, Melbourne, 3000 |
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| State: | VIC |
| Area: | AUS |
| GPS Coordinates: | Lat: -37.820216 Long: 144.960376 Note: GPS Coordinates are approximate. |
Details
| Monument Type: | Monument |
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| Monument Theme: | Landscape |
| Sub-Theme: | Settlement |
| Actual Event Start Date: | 30-August-1835 |
| Actual Event End Date: | 30-August-1835 |
Dedication
| Actual Monument Dedication Date: | Sunday 1st September, 1985 |
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The Enterprize Landing Memorial 1835 - 1985.
This memorial commemorates the landing near here in 1835 of the first Europeans to settle on the site which was to become Melbourne. They arrived on the ship Enterprise following a journey from Launceston, Tasmania. After making their way up the Yarra River, the vessel was moored on the 30th August and unloaded the following day when the first building, a turf hut, was begun.
This memorial was unveiled on the 1st of September 1985 by the Right Honorable the Lord Mayor of Melbourne. Councillor Thomas S. Lynch
The Enterprize Landing Memorial
In memory of those who landed here in August 1835 to begin the first settlement by Europeans, on the site that would become the city of Melbourne.
The schooner Enterprize (Captain Peter Hunter) from Launceston, Tasmania, reached this stretch of the Yarra River on 29 August. On the following day Sunday, 30 August, the horses and deck cargo were unloaded.
When the Enterprize returned to Launceston, the seven who remained were : John Lancey, master mariner ; George Evans, settler ; Evan Evans, his servant ; James Gilbert, Thomas Morgan and Charles Wise, servants of J. P. Fawkner, the owner of the schooner, and Mary Gilbert.
Mary, the only woman in the party, was James Gilbert`s wife. She gave birth, on 29 December 1835, to a son, James, the first European child born in Melbourne.
