Last month, the Burke & Wills Report described the monuments to Burke & Wills in Swan Hill, including the first one which was erected only one month after the Victorian Exploring Expedition has passed through the town heading north. Pretty impressive compared to the time taken to finalise the memorial at Melbourne General Cemetery! This month we discuss monuments in and around Castlemaine.
But first some background about the Castlemaine and its connection to the expedition.
Castlemaine Connection
Robert O’Hara Burke was appointed Superintendent of Police at Castlemaine in November 1858, after transferring from Beechworth. He was in this position when he was appointed to the expedition. But how did a rural Police Superintendent with no exploration or science experience become leader of the Victorian Exploring Expedition? According to some, the influential role of a prominent Victorian road and rail construction baron and Royal Society member John Vans Agnew Bruce may hold the key.
Bruce was responsible for the construction of the road to Mt Alexander goldfields (Bendigo) that passed through Castlemaine, which was completed in 1856. Around that time, he was publicly petitioned to stand for election as a politician, but stated
“…I can do more good in my capacity as a contractor than by engaging in politics. Dull as the times are, I am at this present moment employing 500 men. If I were to go into Parliament, I should have to give up contracting, and what would be the effect of that?”.
Bruce went on to note that his employees would all lose their jobs if he went into parliament.
Through this activity, Bruce became the largest employer in the Colony and was elected to the Philosophical Society (forerunner of the Royal Society Victoria who organized the Victorian Exploring Expedition) in 1857. By 1858, the railway to Bendigo and Echuca was under construction and Bruce (in partnership with William Cornish) won the tender even though they were not the cheapest tenderer, possibly because of Cornish’s strong politic linkages (he had previously built Melbourne GPO, Parliament House, and Melbourne and Castlemaine Goals). Bruce and Cornish bought the Castlemaine Steam Flour Mill and converted it into a railway foundry. Cornish died in 1859 and Bruce took over the business. In 1860, Bruce was described in Parliament as “circulating more money and patronage that the government” and was known as “The Railway King”, employing over 10,000 men. He boasted that any man could be bought for money, and regularly enticed any government employees who were overzealous in supervising Bruce’s work was up to standard to work for him by offering them 2 – 3 times their current wage.
Bruce would probably have first encountered Burke after Burke was appointed Superintendent at Castlemaine in 1858. Burke would have been valuable to Bruce, as Burke could keep Bruce’s workforce under control during the frequent workplace disputes over pay and conditions, especially with the hundreds of German masons that Bruce had imported as Burke spoke German.
In 1859, Bruce was one of the most generous donors to the Exploration Fund, donating £88 to add to a previous donation of £10g. Bruce was impressed with Burke’s energy, and suggested he apply to lead the expedition. When Burke agreed, Bruce took him to Melbourne and introduced him to Royal Society members. Burke spent substantial time during this period at the Melbourne Club trying to advance his candidacy, leading to a £450 gambling debt that almost caught up with him at Swan Hill as the expedition headed north in September 1860, as reported in the Burke and Wills Report in The expedition rests at Swan Hill. Interestingly, there is also a rumour that the final preparations and start of the expedition were hastened so that Burke could start drawing down on his salary to recoup the debt.
And what was Bruce’s real interest in Burke? Did Bruce hope to become the contractor to build a transcontinental railway across Australia to the Gulf and secure a northern port for Victoria? And by supporting Burke for leader, was Bruce trying to directly influence the route the expedition took to achieve that aim? Gold rich Victoria certainly had aspirations to secure land in the Gulf for a northern port, and as the landing point for the telegraph cable from Asia. At that time, the western border of Queensland was the Longitude 141 East, and this wasn’t extended westwards to the Longitude 138 East until 6 June 1862, after Queensland lobbied to secure access to what was then considered the fertile lands of the Gulf and better ports. So, it is fascinating that Burke and Wills route was tantalisingly close to but always west of Longitude 141 East, the then western border of Queensland. If you are interested, this is further explored in the Buke and Wills Report in Landsborough and McKinlay are honoured in Melbourne.
As further support for this theory, a toast by Sir Francis Murphy (later to be one of the Commissioners in the Royal Commission) to Bruce at the opening banquet for the railway at Woodend in July 1861, alluded to “the day when there would be railways to Coopers Creek and the Gulf of Carpentaria, where he trusted his friend (Mr Burke) was now living and enjoying himself” This was greeted with applause, which in hindsight is a bit unfortunate as Burke and Wills had just died a slow death on Coopers Creek.
The Castlemaine monument
Castlemaine had initially been keen to be the final resting place for Burke’s remains, probably because he had lived there prior to the expedition, but when it became clear the Melbourne was going to insist on a burial in Melbourne, they opted for a grand memorial funded from public subscriptions. On 1 July 1862, a year from the estimated date that Burke had died at Coopers Creek, a public holiday was proclaimed for the laying of a foundation stone for a memorial on a small hill to the east of town. John King attended the ceremony and signed a parchment that was placed in a bottle in the base of the memorial as “the survivor”.
During the construction of the memorial, workers raised concerns about the potential lack of reference to Gray on the monument, as they had observed that Gray was not adequately recognised during the funeral of Burke and Wills. As a result of their agitation, Gray was subsequently included in the inscription
TO COMMEMORATE THE VICTORIAN EXPLORING EXPEDITION
THE FIRST TO CROSS THE CONTINENT OF AUSTRALIA
ROBERT O ‘HARA BURKE OF CASTLEMAINE, LEADER,
DIED AT COOPER’S CREEK, 1ST JULY 1861
MELBOURNE TO CARPENTARIA
BURKE, WILLS, GRAY, KING SURVIVOR
ERECTED BY PUBLIC SUBSCRIPTION
AD 1862
A plaque commemorating the 150th anniversary of the start of the expedition at Royal Park was laid at the foot of the monument on 20 August 2010. The plaque includes an iron map of Australia showing the expedition route mounted on a granite rock. The plaque was coordinated by the Castlemaine Pioneers and Old Residents Association and designed and made by local residents.
Police station plaque
There is a plaque in the former Savings Bank building at 37 Hargraves that became the Castlemaine Police Station in 1921. The plaque was unveiled in 1929.
Burke’s house
Burke lived at the police residence Broadoaks at 31 Gingell St, adjacent to the Gold Commissioner’s Camp Reserve. The house was erected in 1854. While there is no monument or plaque as such, Broadoaks is on the Victorian Heritage Register. The citation states that… “This house has important historical associations as the first permanent police residence and for its connection with the explorer Robert O’Hara Burke who lived here between 1858 and 1860.” The house is now a private residence.
Fryerstown
Fryerstown, six miles south of Castlemaine was in the 1860s the heart of the thriving Fryers Creek gold field and was part of the police district that Burke oversaw. Even though it is a small rural settlement today, it still boasts a solid red brick Burke and Wills Mechanics Institute. The building was funded by public subscription, and the foundation stone laid in mid-1863. The building was completed and opened in late 1863.
Burke & Wills Tours 