Gallery

The Explorers Bike Ride 2024 will finish at Werribee. The Gallery though, still includes the Lara Monument. 

The monuments were individually made by the local communities. No two are the same. There are four basic shapes of monuments -  cairn, obelisk, pyramid and plaque. Most are inscribed as ‘passed by or camped at/near this spot’.

The 1924 Centenary Committee chaired by Sir James Barratt requested that communities commemorate the Hume and Hovel Expedition by building the monuments wherever the Expedition route crossed or passed near their town. However, neither Hovell's Diary nor the stories of the earlier settlers could define the exact route. The placement then seems to be a 'best fit' to a popular spot that would be easily visible to passers-by. In this past century, communities and land use have changed and so some monuments now seem misplaced: Bellbridge, Back Creek, Samaria, Kilmore and Mt Fraser.

Lake Hume and Lara monuments are special in that whilst being almost the first and last ones of the route, the names of the 8 expedition members: Hume, Hovell, James Fitzpatrick, Tom Boyd, Claude Bossawa, Henry Angel, Sam Bollard and Thomas Smith are inscribed on their plaques.

The hyperlinks in yellow open TROVE newspaper articles from 1924 about the openings ceremonies at each monument.

Heritage Victoria ref.

“The Hume and Hovell Centenary Celebrations Committee which was formed in 1924 included representatives from the Education and Lands Departments, the Historical Society, the National Parks Association, the Tourist's Resorts Committee and the Automobile Club of Victoria. The chairman of the committee, ophthalmologist and university lecturer Sir James Barrett, was a prime mover in the movement to build commemorative memorials to the expedition of the explorers. Other influential members of the committee were the Director of Education Frank Tate, and Education Department official Charles R Long who was the founder of the monthly School Paper which encouraged the study of the exploits of the early explorers. The Hume and Hovell Centenary Celebrations Committee appealed to municipal councils, school committees, inspectors of schools and head teachers to establish local committees for the erection and unveiling of monuments in the form of tablets, cairns, pyramids and obelisks to mark the Hume and Hovell route".

The majority of the memorials marking the route taken by Hume and Hovell across Victoria were erected in 1924, the year of the centenary. In most localities, a commemorative monument was erected. In a small number of places, the memorials took the form of tablets placed in schools - Lima South, Hansonville, Warrenbayne West, Samaria West and Upper Plenty. 

Officials of the Hume and Hovell Centenary Celebrations Committee and parliamentarians followed the approximate Hume and Hovell route from Albury to Lara by motor car unveiling the local monuments along the route. An itinerary during the week 15 to 21 November 1924. was created for the unveiling ceremonies giving the hour and date for each place.  A subsequent week in December covered the ceremonies for the monuments around Melbourne.

Further notes

Thirty-eight monuments and five plaques were erected at the locations. Most mark the outward journey, others the homeward trek whilst some are common or represent both. The common ones are the northernmost ones from the Murray River crossing at Lake Hume to Whorouly and the section from Broadford to Bulla where Hovell’s description of the journey states they followed the same course. The monuments of Angleside and Swanpool are not on either route but represent both and are placed in between. Some are not actually on the route, Mt Buffalo plaque attached to a boulder at the Horn commemorates the sighting and naming of the mountain by the explorers, it was vandalised in about 2015 and is now missing. Upper Plenty School plaque was meant to have been attached to a cairn on Mt Disappointment but the cairn was never constructed and the plaque remains at the school. The Barjarg monument seems to be a misfit in that whilst it dates their campsite as Nov 29 the accepted course suggests it is offline by about 10km. Nearby Lima South is closer to the route but unfortunately, the date cannot be confirmed as the School’s plaque. is missing. The Warrenbayne West School’s plaque is located at The Village Green Cricket Field Strath Creek. The Samaria West School plaque is located in the Benalla Museum.