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Pieter Nuyts Obelisk
Pieter Nuyts Obelisk
Pieter Nuyts Obelisk
Pieter Nuyts Plaque
Pieter Nuyts Obelisk 2

Photographs supplied by Diane Watson

The obelisk commemorates the tercentenary of Dutchman Pieter Nuyts` exploration of the coast. The history of European exploration of the Streaky Bay area starts with the Dutch sailors who accompanied Pieter Nuyts on his 1627 voyage across the Great Australian Bight.

The plaque was unveiled on the obelisk on the 7th October 1938. 

Nuyts reached the South Australian coast near Streaky Bay before turning westward and heading to the Dutch East Indies. The monument also honours Stuart and Flinders.

On April 16, 1927, the District Council of Streaky Bay received a suggestion from the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia, S.A. branch, that a monument should be erected. Consideration of the proposal was deferred until May 21, when it was agreed that a memorial should be erected at the intersection of Alfred terrace and Bay road, to commemorate the voyage in 1627. It was then decided that a concrete or stone obelisk should be erected and carry a bronze tablet with a historical record. The structure was to act in a dual capacity — as a historical record and as a road beacon — commemorative and utilitarian.

No time was lost in erecting the pillar at the intersection agreed upon, for by November 1927, the local newspaper was able to report the completion of the stone work. The base is of concrete three tiers high surmounted by a pillar of Mount Gambier freestone (it is to be trusted geologists will not quibble at the use of this word). It still had to have an electric light placed on the top as well as the tablet. The paper said ' The whole will present a handsome appearance when complete.' The use of Mount Gambier stone is suggestive of symbolically joining these two places together — the west to the east — where Nuyts left off in the west and where the next voyager, Lieut. James Grant, a century and three quarters later in the east, successfully made land and called a prominent eminence -Mount Gambier, leaving the intervening country to be discovered by Flinders and Baudin two or three years later. Like Nuyts and his voyage of discovery of the South Coast, the record
of this memorial for the time being must be left incomplete.
Excerpt from Port Lincoln Times (SA) 4 June 1937. 

On Friday the Chief Secretary (Sir George Ritchie) unveiled a tablet on an obelisk at the intersection of Bay Road and Alfred Terrace, in memory of Captain Peter Nuyts, who reached Streaky Bay in 1627, 150 years before Captain Cook discovered Botany Bay. There is no official record that he landed.
Chronicle (Adelaide) 13 October 1938.

Location

Address:Alfred Terrace & Bay Road, Streaky Bay, 5680
State:SA
Area:AUS
GPS Coordinates:Lat: -32.795958
Long: 134.211094
Note: GPS Coordinates are approximate.
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Details

Monument Type:Monument
Monument Theme:People
Sub-Theme:Exploration
Approx. Event Start Date:1627
Approx. Event End Date:1627

Dedication

Approx. Monument Dedication Date:1927
Front Inscription

This Beacon Was Erected
By The District Council Of Streaky Bay
In The Year 1927
To Commemorate The Tri-Centenary
Of The Voyage Of Discovery Made By
    Pieter Nuyts
Who Visited These Shores In The Ship
   "Gulden Zeepard"
 In The Year 1627.

Source: MA,SAM
Monument details supplied by Monument Australia - www.monumentaustralia.org.au