First Pioneers of Wangaratta DistrictPrint Page

The monument commemorates the first pioneer settlers of the Wangaratta District. It was unveiled during the centenary celebrations in 1938. 

The monument may have been designed by Donald Webb FRSA, who was an art teacher at Wangaratta High School from 1932 to 1936.   Donald Webb was a finalist in the Archibald Prize in 1935, and in the Wynne Prize for landscape painting in the same year. 

WANGARATTA Wednesday - The ceremony of unveiling a granite monument to the earliest pioneers of the district took place today.  The monument has been erected near the entrance to Merriwa Park on the Hume Highway, with the park as a delightful background. Names on the memorial are - Rev Joseph Docker, William P Faithfull, George Faithfull, Dr G E Mackay, William Bowman, J W Chisholm, David Reid, William Clark.  The Mayor (Councillor T J Nolan) was chairman. Among those present were - The president of the centenary committee (Councillor G D Handley), Dr E Alan Mackay and Mr W S Mackay (sons of one of the pioneers), Messrs G J and F G Docker (grandsons of the Rev J Docker), Councillor A H Clark and Misses Clark (grandson and granddaughters of William Clark), and Miss Curtis Reid (niece of David Reid). Mr Diffey M.L.A who performed the unveiling ceremony congratulated the centenary committee on erecting an everlasting memorial to the pioneers.

Dr E A Mackay said that David Reid whose name appeared on the monument was a son of Dr David Reid surgeon of the Bellerophon at the Battle of Trafalgar, and it was on that ship that Napoleon was taken to the island where he spent his last days. Dr Reid's character and ability attracted the attention of the authorities and from that it happened that Dr Reid came to Australia and his family eventually came to the Ovens. His widow was buried in the Wangaratta Cemetery, and his sons had played a large part in the development of Wangaratta.
Excerpt from the Argus (Melbourne), 20 October 1938.

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Dedication