Pioneers of Smeaton DistrictPrint Page

The obelisk with a three branched lamp commemorates Smeaton pioneers and was unveiled during the centenary celebrations of 1938.  A similar memorial was unveiled at the other side of the town. The electricity was switched on to Smeaton during the celebrations. 

Creswick, Sunday. The worst weather for more than six months dampened the commencement of the celebrations of the centenary of Smeaton yesterday.  A dust pall hung over everything, and a driving gale made conditions unpleasant. The celebrations were opened by the Prime Minister, Mr. Lyons. Mr. A. J. Redman, president of the centenary committee, welcomed home-comers and Mr. Lyons, and expressed regret that Mrs. Lyons had not accompanied him, because she had been ordered a rest by her medical adviser.

Misses Sheila and Kathleen Lyons accompanied their father. Mr. Lyons congratulated Smeaton on attaining its 100th birthday, and said it was well that these celebrations were not confined to the capital cities. He referred to the arrival, on April 15, 1838, of Captain Hepburn, with his flocks, to settle in the district; the development in agriculture, then gold mining, and later the reversion to agriculture. He said it was inspiring that he should honor today those men and women who had developed the land. They were men and women who should be glorified higher than any whose honors were won in the horrors of war. Smeaton is thronged with hundreds of home-comers from all parts of Australia. It was once a populous mining town.

In the afternoon Mr. Lyons visited Smeaton House, built by Captain Hepburn in 1849, and now occupied by Mr. B.S. Righetti. Dame Enid Lyons was to have switched on the electricity to Smeaton. In her absence, Mr. Lyons spoke for her, conveying congratulations to Smeaton. Amid applause. Miss Sheila Lyons, on behalf of her mother, cut the ribbons which released the switches which operated a display of ornamental and colored lighting. Mr. H. S. Kilfoyle, president of the Melbourne committee of Smeatonians. then dedicated to the memory of the pioneers two ornamental lights, one at either end of the town on the Ballarat Castlemaine road. It rained steadily on Sunday, and the afternoon gathering at the recreation reserve was abandoned. Reunion services at the churches were packed.
Age (Melbourne), 18 April 1938.

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