Major Thomas Mitchell Print Page

The cairn commemorates Major Thomas Mitchell who passed through the area in 1836. The name plate for the cairn had not arrived at the time of the unveiling. 

At the unveiling of the Bulla memorial for Hume and Hovell, Charles Daley the Secretary of the Victorian Historical Society suggested that the idea be extended to other explorers and a committee was formed to mark out the routes of Charles Sturt, Thomas Mitchell, Angus McMillan, and Count Paul de Strzelecki.

Thirty-five cairns or tablets to Mitchell were erected at Nyah West, Swan Hill, Cohuna, Mount Pyramid, Fernihurst, Wedderburn, Kanya, Stawell, Mount William, Horsham, Mount Arapiles, Miga Lake, Harrow, Coleraine, Casterton, Dartmoor, Isle of Bags, Portland, Mount Rouse, Mount Napier, Hamilton, Lake Repose, Dunkeld, Middle Creek, Mount Greenock, Mitchellstown, Nagambie, Castlemaine, Expedition Pass, Kyneton, Benalla, Wangaratta, Chiltern, Gooramadda and a public park at Natimuk (Major Mitchell Park, Mount Arapiles, Natimuk).

Sir Thomas Livingstone Mitchell (1792 – 1855), surveyor and explorer of south-eastern Australia , was born at Grangemouth in Stirlingshire, Scotland. In 1827 he took up an appointment as Assistant Surveyor General of New South Wales. The following year he became Surveyor General and remained in this position until his death. Mitchell was knighted in 1839 for his contribution to the surveying of Australia. 

On his third expedition in 1836, Mitchell travelled to where the Lachlan, Murrumbidgee and Darling Rivers joined the Murray River in what is now Victoria. He mapped the western part of Victoria and named the Grampian Mountains, on the other side of which he found rich grazing land. The expedition travelled south west, and crossed mountains and rivers that no white people had ever seen. They reached the Glenelg River and rowed down to the sea at Portland Bay. Here Mitchell was surprised to find the Henty brothers and a thriving community that had been settled there since 1834. 

 

Cairn Unveiling 1933

Location

Details

Dedication