Jane DuffPrint Page

The monument commemorates Jane Duff who saved her brothers when they were lost in the bush for nine days. The memorial was officially unveiled on the 26th April 1935. 

On Friday, 12th. of August, 1854, Hannah Duff, wife of shepherd John Duff of Spring Hill Station, sent her three children Jane, Isaac and Frank, to gather firewood. The children became lost and were not located for 9 days and 8 nights after wandering for almost 80 kilometres through dense bush-land. During their ordeal without food they gathered water by sucking dew from leaves.

Jane tried to protect four year old Frank from the winter cold by huddling together at night and covering him with her dress. During the day Jane and Isaac took turns at carrying Frank when he was too tired to walk. After the children were found, Jane became a national heroine and the trio became known as the "Babes in the Wood", and a book and film were produced of their ordeal. A memorial to Jane and the children is was erected by locals in 1935, as close as possible to where they were found.

NATIMUK, Wednesday. - The unveiling of a memorial to the bush heroine, Jane Duff, will take place on Friday at 3 p.m. Jane Duff, when a girl, cared for her brothers Isaac and Frank for eight days and nights when lost in dense mallee scrub on Spring Hill Estate, Nurcoung. The memorial, a granite obelisk, has been erected on the Natimuk to Goroke road at a spot known as the Sheepwash Reserve, midway between the two towns. A public holiday has been gazetted for the Kowree and Arapiles shires, and a combined school picnic has been arranged.
The Argus (Melbourne), 25 April 1935. 

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