Henry KendallPrint Page

The Monument was erected at the birthplace of poet Henry Kendall (1839-1882). The Cairn was originally erected by students of Milton Public School on the 10th December 1913, and the day was celebrated as Kendall Day. The Stone cairn which survived for many years was eventually disassembled and the stones used for a creek crossing. It was replaced with a sandstone monument in 1972.

Henry Kendall was born in 1839 near Milton on the NSW coast. He lived in the coastal regions of Illawarra in the south of NSW and Clarence River in the north before spending two years aboard a whaling vessel. He returned to live in Sydney and published his first volume of poetry, Poems and Songs in 1862. He moved to Melbourne in 1868 after his marriage and published his second volume, Leaves from Australian Forests in 1869. His lack of success, however, along with the death of his daughter Araluen drove him to alcohol and he was to spend various periods in a Sydney asylum for his addiction. He was finally cured, reunited with his wife and achieved some level of success with his final volume of poetry, Songs from the Mountains, in 1880. He died in 1882.

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