Angus McMillanPrint Page

The monument commemorates Angus McMillan, the explorer of Gippsland, who died at this spot in 1865.

Angus McMillan (14 August 1810 – 18 May 1865) was an explorer and pioneer pastoralist in Gippsland, Victoria, Australia. Arriving in Australia in 1838, he rose swiftly in colonial society. In retribution for the murder of a fellow pastoralist and for the killing of livestock, he led many of the Gippsland massacres of 1840 - 1850, which killed or drove away the region's indigenous population.

In need of money, in 1864 McMillan acceded to a request from the Victorian Government to lead a team of men into Gippsland's alpine region with the aim of mapping and clearing tracks to support local mining operations. Within six months McMillan and his men had constructed more than 350 kilometres of track through rugged terrain near Omeo and Dargo. It was to be McMillan's last expedition; in May 1865 he was clearing a track near Dargo when a pack-horse slipped and fell, crushing him beneath it. McMillan was carried to the public house in Iguana Creek, suffering serious internal injuries. He died on 18 May and was buried in the public cemetery in Sale.

Public interest in Angus McMillan and Sir Paul Edmund de Strzelecki was initiated in a 1920`s campaign to recognise the European explorers in Victoria, and a chain of commemorative cairns was erected across the region. McMillan’s contribution to the region was also conferred in naming the Federal Electoral Division of McMillan in 1948, which includes original lands of the Gunai Kurnai in west and south Gippsland.

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