Henty`s HutPrint Page

The monument commemorates the site of Stephen Henty`s hut which was the first permanent residence in the district. The monument was officially unveiled in June 1940. 

In 1918 members of the Old Resident’s Association decided to mark the location of one of the first huts in the area built by white men. W.S. Henty, a grandson of SG Henty, laid the commemoration stone over the original fireplace of the hut in January 1918. In 1939, during the centenary of Henty’s arrival, it was suggested that a more permanent memorial mark the site. In 1940 this six metre high obelisk was erected above a cairn of dolomite, set over the foundations of the original marker. On Arbor Day in June 1940 the unveiling was conducted before a large crowd including school children, who had assembled to plant trees for that special day.

Mount Gambier, March 7. Permanently to mark the spot where Stephen George Henty, in 1841, built the first permanent residence in Mount Gambier — a hut near the Valley Lake — a handsome monument has been erected on the site. In 1919 a slab of black basalt was placed near the old fireplace of the hut by the Old Residents' Association, and the new structure, designed by the Corporation Overseer (Mr. A. R. Griffiths) and erected by Messrs. J. Lock and Sons in an honorary capacity, is close by. It has a base of black Mount Schank basalt 8ft. 6in. square from which rises a dome of red dolomite, surmounted by a concrete column 29 ft. high. Mr. John Fletcher, M.P., donated the stone, and a suitably inscribed brass plate will be attached. A ceremony arranged by the then Mayor (Mr. W. E. Pyne) took place at the lakes in June last to celebrate the centenary of the arrival of Henty in 1839. This inspired the erection of the monument.
Narracoorte Herald (SA), 12 March 1940.

Four hundred Mount Gambler school children planted more than 600 gum, cypress and pine trees at the Valley Lake on Friday morning, under the town council's lakes beautification plan. Cr .C. H. Hirth (chairman of the parks and gardens committee) addressed the children on the advantages of Arbor Day observances, and urged them to protect the trees of the town. The curator (Mr W. D. Robinson), was in charge of the plantings. Later the mayor (Mr S. C. Davis), in the presence of the children and townspeople, unveiled the Henty obelisk, which marks the site of the first, white settler's hut, erected near the Valley Lake just over 100 years ago.
South Eastern Times (Millicent, SA), 25 June 1940.

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Dedication