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The mmonument was unveiled by the Governor, Major-General Sir Winston Dugan on Sunday 27 December 1936 as part of the centenary celebrations. It was designed by G. Beaumont Smith to commemorate the foundation of South Australia and to honour the early settlers.

On the south and north faces are bronze tablets listing the names of the first explorers: Nuyts, Flinders, Baudin, Sturt, Barker, Light and the first settlers, and the north tablet lists the founders: Wakefield, Gouger, Torrens, G.F. Angas and others. At the top of the four panels are portraits of Wakefield, Hindmarsh, Gouger and Angas and crowning the tip of the 12.9 metre high monument of Kapunda marble with its base of Murray Bridge granite is a bronze replica of the Buffalo.

A plaque was placed on the memorial to commemorate the visit by Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh in 1977 and again in 1986 to commemorate the sesqui-centenary of the foundation of South Australia. 

An assurance that the Pioneers' Memorial at Glenelg will be completed in time for the unveiling ceremony on Sunday, December 27, has been given to the Mayor of Glenelg (Mr. Fisk) by the contractor for the memorial (Mr A. S. Tillett). Mr. Fisk said today that the unveiling ceremony would be performed by the Governor (Sir Winston Dugan) at 8.30 p.m. on December 27. Mr. Fisk hopes that following the opening, a divine service will be conducted appropriate to the occasion.

It is anticipated that congregations attending churches holding centenary religious services on that night will proceed from the churches to the memorial. "I expect a large influx of old colonists for the unveiling," said Mr. Fisk, "and that the whole ceremony will befit the purpose for which the memorial is being constructed."
News (Adelaide), 28 November 1936.

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