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Sir Paul Edmund de Strzelecki Print Page 
A bas-relief sculpture commemorates Sir Paul Edmund de Strzelecki (1797-1873), an explorer and scientist, who was born on 20 July 1797 at Gluszyna, near Poznan, Western Poland.
In 1839 he was the guest of James Busby in New Zealand, and reached Sydney in April, with letters of introduction to Governor Gipps.
He planned a geological survey of the country, and in December, after a visit to the Bathurst-Wellington district, stated to the geologists, W. B. Clarke and J. D. Dana, that the local mineralogy was 'very tame'.
Field-work for his geological map took him in zigzags across New South Wales, and to the Australian Alps, where alone he ascended what he considered the highest peak, calling it after the Polish democratic leader, Tadeusz Kosciuszko.
He and his party travelled through Gippsland, partially crossed previously by McMillan, and arrived at Westernport weary and starving. Strzelecki then went to Van Diemen's Land, where he became a close friend of the Franklins and did important work as explorer, geologist, and scientific farmer, and like the earlier Lhotsky made analyses of coal deposits. He left Sydney for Singapore in April 1843.
Location
| Address: | Swanston & Elgin Streets, Earth Sciences Building, Melbourne University, Parkville, 3052 |
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| State: | VIC |
| Area: | Foreign |
| GPS Coordinates: | Lat: -37.797356 Long: 144.965136 Note: GPS Coordinates are approximate. |
Details
| Monument Type: | Sculpture |
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| Monument Theme: | People |
| Sub-Theme: | Exploration |
Dedication
| Approx. Monument Dedication Date: | 1988 |
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This monument commemorates
Sir Paul Edmund Strzelecki
20 June, 1797 to 6 October, 1873
The Polish born geologist who pioneered
new frontiers for Australia.
Donated to the people of Australia in the Bicentenary year
by the Australian Polish community.
