Site history of Shire of Eltham Memorial Park/Kangaroo Ground War Memorial Park Dr Peter Mills 26 June 2020
Wurundjeri occupation of Kangaroo Ground at the point of invasion The area now known as Kangaroo Ground is part of the lands of the Wurundjeri. There is little written evidence of Wurundjeri land management in this area at the time of invasion. However, with a tide of recent studies emphasising the ubiquity of pre-contact Aboriginal management of Australian landscapes by fire, one can now reasonably interpolate that the Wurundjeri managed their environment by fire, including in the area of Kangaroo Ground. The Kangaroo Ground may be the clearest instance of an Aboriginal-made landscape in the Nillumbik area. Grammage observes that there are many ‘kangaroo grounds’ around Australia, which were typically created by Aboriginal manipulation with fire and which were identified in subsequent settler place names. He proposes that Aboriginal people kept certain areas of very productive open country as breeding places for animals or plants, where hunting was only allowed every few years, or in parts of the area each year (Gammage, 2011, pp.284–7).
Mick Woiwod found that on the 1847 survey plans of William Weston Howe, the Manna Gums (Eucalyptus viminalis) which dominated the black soil area of the Kangaroo Ground were shown at half the density of the tree cover in the surrounding Stringybark forests. Woiwod concluded that “the general openness of the Kangaroo Ground and the speed with which it fell to the plough seems explicable only within the concept of Aboriginal firestick farming” (Woiwod, 2011, p.57; Woiwod, 1995, pp.30-31). In 1874 a travelling reporter for the Leader observed that the name Kangaroo Ground was said to have arisen “from the extraordinary richness of the location with kangaroo grass before it was settled upon, and even now, if ploughed land is left unsowed, it grows in profusion” (Leader, 20 June 1874).
Written evidence of other aspects of Wurundjeri occupation of the Kangaroo Ground area is scant. Ellender found evidence that the Wurundjeri moved between the lowlands and the hills and that Aboriginal people used water holes on the north-east slopes of Kangaroo Ground. Ellender also observed, however, that the majority of early accounts of Aboriginal life in the district were focused around their occupation of land bordering the water bodies (Ellender 1994, pp.12 & 14). Invasion and dispossession European occupation of Aboriginal lands in the Port Phillip District by pastoralists began in the mid-1830s. Broome describes the invasion of the pastoral lands of Port Phillip as “one of the fastest land occupations in the history of empires” (Broome 2005, p.54). The take-up of squatting runs was accompanied by a variety of impacts which drove Aboriginal people off their lands. The infrastructure supporting the Aboriginal food supply such as huts and eel and fish traps and channels was often destroyed by the squatters. Game was driven off by men and dogs and waterholes and plant foods such as yam-daisies were damaged by overgrazing. With the resulting food shortages, Aboriginal people had little option but to kill stock for food. Killing of stock was also a form of economic warfare against the intruders (Boyce 2012, p.171; Broome 2005, p.77). These patterns can reasonably be interpolated to have applied to the impact of the invasion of the Nillumbik area, and Kangaroo Ground in particular.
The killing of stock on the Victoria frontier typically resulted in violent reprisals by the squatters. Richard Broome estimates that about 1000 Aboriginal people were directly killed on the Victorian frontier overall, with around 80 white deaths (Broome 2005, p.81). Wilkinson found some evidence of such tensions in the eastern part of the Eltham district with armed bands of Aboriginal men threatening solitary shepherds and homesteads (Wilkinson 1969 p.84 in Ellender 1994, p.13) But he also found no evidence of major loss of lie or serious injury among whites or blacks in the Eltham district during the frontier period (Wilkinson 1969, p.77 in Ellender 1994, p.13).
The Protectorate of Aborigines which was set up in 1839 did little to slow the process of dispossession (Boyce 2012, p.177). A reserve was set up on the Yarra River to the south of Kangaroo Ground, including part of Section 7 Parish of Nillumbik, but it was abolished in ca1859. Section 7 had become part of the Glengloy Farmers Common before 1863. The influx of population in the gold-rushes only accelerated these processes, and Ellender concludes that “the 1850s saw the steady decline in the Aboriginal population in the [Eltham] district” (Ellender 1994:14; Woiwod 2011, p.49; Eltham and Glengloy United Town and Farmers Common File 4734, Item 69, Unit 39, VPRS 242, PROV). Squatting runs incorporating Garden Hill James Bruce Donaldson held the Kangaroo Ground run from 1840 (Billis & Kenyon, p.201). Partners James Brown and Samuel Draper held the Kangaroo Ground run from 1844-1849 (Billis & Kenyon, p.36) Brown and Draper had a fenced off cultivation area on a northern ridgeline of the hill later known as Garden Hill, centred around 750m to the north of the summit. Their paddock was detailed on Howe’s 1848 plan, where it was shown spread over the junction of the four allotments of Section 2 Parish of Nillumbik (Fig.1). It is possible that the name Garden Hill derived from the presence of this cultivated area on its flanks. Brown and Draper dissolved their partnership in 1848 (Melbourne Daily News, 14 December 1848:3). Reminiscences published in the local paper in 1887 suggested that the name of the hill had been acquired “from primeval settlers or pioneers having planted vegetables” (EO&S&EBR, 11 November 1887:2). This was an exception to the general rule of early pastoralists not engaging in agriculture (Kellaway 1992, p.218). Agricultural settlement on freehold
Fig.1: Detail of 1848 Parish of Nillumbik plan showing summit of Garden Hill and the location of Brown and Draper’s cultivation paddock and huts (Plan of Subdivided Sections in and Adjoining the Parish of Nillumbik, Surveyed by Wm. Weston Howe, 18 April 1848, Sydney N5).
Surveys and Crown land sales In the 1840s government surveys of the Parish of Nillumbik were extended into Kangaroo Ground where the land was fertile, while other areas of the parish remained unsurveyed. A number of Scottish farming families purchased land at Kangaroo Ground at early Crown land sales and commenced clearing and cultivation of the land (Kellaway 1992, pp.216-18). In early 1848 surveyor Weston Howe surveyed sections of the “Upper Kangaroo Grounds”, which were then occupied by squatters as a sheep run (Port Phillip Gazette and Settler’s Journal, 27 November 1847:2). The summit of Garden Hill was located on the southeast corner of Allotment 4 Section 2 Parish of Nillumbik.
The Thomsons then Mess brothers at ‘Garden Hill’ (now Setel Downs) Allotment 4 Section 2 Parish of Nillumbik Note that at various times farms on both Allotments 4 and 3 of Section 2 were referred to as ‘Garden Hill Farm/Estate’.
Allotment 4 Section 2 was purchased at the Crown land sales in December 1848 by George Kirk (Geelong Advertiser, 16 December 1848:1). He also purchased Allotment 1 Section 2 in 1849 (Argus, 22 February 1850:1). Kirk was a Melbourne butcher, tanner and land speculator who never lived at Kangaroo Ground (Woiwod 1994, p.58).
The first land purchase by Scottish immigrants Alexander and Jane Thomson and family in the Kangaroo Ground was Allotment 2 Section 2, Parish of Nillumbik, 156 acres, in the name of their eldest son John in 1848. They soon also leased Kirk’s land, Allotments 1 and 4 of Section 2 (containing the summit of Garden Hill), and also acquired another 78 acres to the west (Allotment 4 Section 3). Alexander and Jane’s homestead was ‘Hill Grove’. Second son James was established at ‘Garden Hill’, the southern part of Allotment 4 Section 2 (Nillumbik Parish Plan; Woiwod 1994 p.59). At some point, probably before 1863, they purchased ‘Garden Hill’. An 1863 plan shows Allotment 4 divided into north and south halves (Eltham and Glengloy United Town and Farmers Common File 4734, Item 69, Unit 39, VPRS 242, PROV). After James Thomson died in 1891 his three Kangaroo Ground properties were offered for sale (EO&S&EBR, 15 May 1891:2; 29 May 1891:2). ‘Garden Hill’, 78 acres, was sold to James Mess, farmer of Kangaroo Ground (Argus, 11 June 1891:10).
James Mess and Jane Stevenson had first taken up two 20-acre lots, Allotments 5 and 6 Section 20 Parish of Nillumbik (adjacent to the east of Allotments 2 and 4 Section 2), under the Land Act 1865, to which they gained freehold in 1869. James had also selected 138 acres Allotment 8 Section 2, to which he gained freehold in 1887 (Nillumbik Parish Plan Sheet 2; Woiwod 1994, p.101). James Mess still owned ‘Garden Hill’ when he died in 1901 (EO&S&EBR, 21 June 1901:2). The property was then run by his sons until c1947 (CT V7081 F118).
Leo Edward Gleeson became the owner of 76 acres, the southern part of Allotment 4, in 1947. Florence and Rupert Foster became the owners in 1954, and Alice and Herbert Tompkins became the owners in 1956. They renamed the property ‘Setel Downs’ (CT V7081 F744; Age, 14 October 1957:11).
The Harkness family at ‘Garden Hill Farm/Estate’ Allotment 3 Section 2 Parish of Nillumbik Note: The Memorial Park is not on this land but is immediately adjacent to its southwest corner, and the current access road is located on a small triangle of land and another strip of land which were once part of this allotment.
Andrew Harkness purchased Allotment 3 Section 2, 152 acres, at the Crown land sale in December 1848 (Geelong Advertiser, 16 December 1848:1). Their land was already under cultivation by 1851, with the one three-acre plot on the farm yielding over 145 bushels of wheat (Geelong Advertiser, 15 April 1951:2).
Andrew and Sarah’s daughter Frances (Franny) had married Alexander White of Yarra Glen in 1877 (EO&S&EBR, 14 April 1893:2; BDM Event No.4683/1877). Andrew died in 1892 and in 1893 his widow Sarah offered the farm to let (Leader, 5 March 1892:45; EO&S&EBR, 27 January 1893:2). Sarah died in 1894 and Richard Harkness and Alexander Lamont White became the owners (CT V2623 F542). Alexander White died in 1906 and Richard Harkness became the sole owner in 1907.
Fanny became the owner the same year and she and her sons continued farming at Garden Hill (Argus, 20 November 1906:8; CT V2623 V542; EO&S&EBR, 20 November 1908:6; Australasian, 12 May 1928:52). Fanny ordered a clearing sale of her dairy cattle at Garden Hill in 1918 (Argus, 5 December 1918:2). By 1924 Fanny’s first son R.C. (Robert) White had sold Garden Hill, presumably on Fanny’s behalf (Advertiser, 13 March 1925:2). Fanny died in 1932 (Argus, 22 August 1932:1). Melbourne industrialist Herbert Gepp was new owner (CT V4830 F993; Australasian, 12 May 1928:52).
Gepp died at Kangaroo Ground in 1954 (Argus, 15 April 1954:12). Garden Hill, including 151 acres of the homestead portion, and Allotment 2 Section 2, 160 acres immediately to the north, was offered for sale in 1955 (Age, 15 October 1955:36). The property was purchased by the MMBW, later Melbourne Water, who subdivided it for sale in 1998 (Age, 28 February 1998:157). Early use of Garden Hill summit as a lookout The Eltham Yarra Glen Road and a village at Kangaroo ground Howe’s c1848 survey map shows the track from Eltham to Ryries run at Yarra Glen heading diagonally through Lot 1 Section 1 (Fig.1). This track may have followed an aboriginal track (Wilkinson 1969, p.41 in Ellender 19914 p.13). Following the land survey and Crown land sales, the road alignment was then changed to match the ‘government Road’ alignments marked on the Parish survey, bringing the road into close alignment with Garden Hill. The Eltham to Kangaroo Ground road was proclaimed in 1852 (Argus, 29 January 1852:3). The Eltham Road District was proclaimed in 1856. A District Road Board “for the purpose of considering and adopting measures to obtain the permanent improvement of the road between the Lower Plenty Bridge and the Kangaroo Ground” was elected soon after. The Board met in Eltham until 1868, when it moved to Kangaroo Ground (Argus, 24 June 1856:3; Kellaway, p.230).
Woiwod mentions a first cutting on the road at Garden Hill but does not give a date (Woiwod 1994, p.76). Tenders were invited by the Board in 1857 for works to one mile of road at Kangaroo Ground (Argus, 9 March 1857:7). A portion of the road in Kangaroo Ground was metalled in 1859 (Argus, 6 May 1859:7). The Eltham Road District was forming, draining and metalling the Eltham Main Road at Garden Hill in 1865. This is, incidentally, the first use of the name “Garden Hill” found in newspapers (Argus, 9 March 1865:3).
Early tourism and picnicking on Garden Hill The alignment of the Eltham Yarra Glen Road made access to the summit of Garden Hill easily accessible to visitors, both locals and touring parties. The values of the summit of Garden Hill as a lookout and picnic destination were appreciated from at least as early as 1863, when a procession of locals moved from Kangaroo Ground to Garden Hill to light a bonfire, probably to celebrate the marriage of the Prince of Wales (Diary of Andrew Ross, cited by Woiwod 1994, p.198). A description of a trip from Melbourne to “the Blacks’ station at Coranderrk” in 1873 included “halting at Garden Hill to ascend and enjoy the grand panoramic view to be seen from the top of it” (Leader, 1 March 1873:6). A newspaper reporter travelling through the area in 1874 observed that “in the centre of the district stands a high knoll, known as Garden Hill, from the summit of which an idea is obtained of the height the locality must be above the tide level” (Leader, 20 June 1874).
In 1884 local landowner Mr Cameron organised a “pleasure trip” for the Governor and Lady Lock from Melbourne to Yarra Flats. The party stopped at the Kangaroo Ground Hotel and strolled up to Garden Hill. They left the road and passed through an archway of flowers and evergreens before moving onto Mr Tomson’s paddock and the summit of “that old familiar landmark” Garden Hill. Here they were greeted by ranks of school children singing the national anthem. After a sumptuous cold lunch in a large tent time was spent viewing the magnificent scenery. James Thomson, owner of the land, announced his intention to plant an Oak at the lookout as a memento of the occasion (EO&S&EBR, 12 December 1884:2). In the late 1880s John Allan [sic], licensee of the Kangaroo Ground Hotel, advised that the premises was “within five minutes’ walk of that capital resort for pic-nic parties, the famous Garden Hill, from the summit of which one of the most extensive and picturesque views in the colony can be seen” (EO&S&EBR, 25 June 1886:2). Presumably such excursions had been a feature for earlier visitors to the hotel, which first opened in 1864 (Woiwod 1994, p.183).
In 1887 the area of the “renowned picnic rendezvous” had lain fallow for several years, indicating it had been cultivated previously. That year the owner James Thomson planned to put part of the area under crops, but also resolved to reserve a small area at the top of the hill for picnic parties. The Observer suggested that in this jubilee year, an English Oak should be planted on top of the hill (EO&EBR, 27 May 1887:2). In 1888 the view from the top of Garden Hill was a feature of a trip from Yarra Flats to Kangaroo Ground by a reporter for the Lilydale Express (Lilydale Express, 11 January 1888:3). A Melbourne newspaper in 1890 reported that “the Garden Hill, on Mr Harkness’s property [actually the Thomsons’ property], is undoubtedly one of the ‘beauty spots’ of Victoria” (Leader, 25 January 1890:11).
The volcano myth As late as 1937 the summit of Garden Hill was still thought to have been the crater of a volcano which had buried the valley of the Yarra River in a lava flow, forcing the river to cut a new bed (Argus, 25 May 1929:3; 1 June 1937:8). Later theories place the origins in much earlier lava flows in a Pleistocene river valley (Woiwod 1994, p.198). The Shire of Eltham Soldiers’ Memorial park 1918-1926 Local farmer Walter Whippell was credited with first suggesting a war memorial park for the Eltham Shire, and he later donated £50 towards the purchase of land (Advertiser, 19 November 1926:3). Plans by the Eltham Shire to create a memorial park at Garden Hill were circulating as early as August 1918. Creation of an honour board of enlisted local men for placement in the council chambers had already been considered, but a park at Garden Hill with a monument was thought to be a more fitting way of representing the whole of the Shire. The Council resolved to enquire whether the Mess brothers would donate the Garden Hill land (E&WSA&DCVA, 9 August 1918:3). When the Mess brothers demanded £100 per acre for the two acres, the councillors were far from impressed, one suggesting that the brothers would “get lockjaw asking so much”. Compulsory acquisition was suggested (E&WSA&DCVA, 8 November 1918:3). By January 1919 the Mess brothers had agreed to take £50 per acre (E&WSA&DCVA, 10 January 1918:3).
The shire engineer and Councillor White inspected the Garden Hill site in February 1919, estimating that the park should be five chains along the road and four chains deep. Due to the cutting on the north side of the road, it would be necessary to acquire an additional parcel of land, twelve fence panels long and three panels deep, from the adjacent property to the east owned by Mrs [Frances] White (E&WSA&DCVA, 7 February 1919:3). Mrs White later donated this land to the Shire (see below).
By September 1919 the land was considered to have been purchased and returned soldiers were employed by the Shire in work at the Garden Hill Memorial Park, using Soldiers Repatriation Grant funds (E&WSA&DCVA, 26 September 1919:3). In October 25-30 volunteers spent a day ploughing and cleaning up rock from the park (E&WSA&DCVA, 31 October 1919:3). It appears that the intention was to create a park in the conventional sense, if a little removed from any settlement, rather than a reserve of natural character within a tamed rural landscape.
Early plans for embellishment of the park included ornamental plantings, a monument to the fallen, an archway over the road entrance and a display of captured German weapons. In May 1920 a public meeting was held to appoint a committee to carry out beautification works. It was resolved to erect a monument to the fallen in the park at a later date. A sub-committee was appointed to interview the curator of the Melbourne Botanical Gardens as to what ornamental trees were most suitable for the park (E&WSA&DCVA, 21 May 1920:2). The Botanical Gardens curator, Mr Cronin, visited a week later and advised on suitable tree varieties, also undertaking to provide a plan of how they should be arranged to best effect (E&WSA&DCVA, 25 June 1920:2). Soon after a gift of 101 ornamental trees was received from Mr W.G. Gray of ‘Allwood’ Nurseries at Hurstbridge (E&WSA&DCVA, 10 December 1920:3).
A captured German light machine gun was allotted to the Shire in April 1921, and it was resolved to place it in the Memorial Park (E&WSA&DCVA, 8 April 1921:3). A second machine gun was presented to the Eltham Shire in July, and it was decided to present it to the Eltham State School (E&WSA&DCVA, 29 July 1921:2). One machine gun given to the Eltham Shire was placed at the memorial obelisk in Eltham and later moved to a position under the Eltham Primary School Honour Board (EDHS 2010, PP.11-12). Written evidence of placement of a machine gun or guns at the memorial Park has not been found, although a photo from c1934 may show two guns of some kind on the ground in front of the tower entrance (EDHS Photo No.262, see below).
A windstorm in July 1921 did much damage to the remaining trees (presumably Eucalypts) on top of Garden Hill, leaving the park “looking like a section of No Man’s Land” (E&WSA&DCVA, 22 July 1921:2). There must have been some Eucalypts remaining, as in 1925 a tourist who had taken cuttings of a gum was subject to a complaint prompted by a local informant (Advertiser, 6 November 1925:2).
The Memorial Park was officially opened in September 1921 by the local member Mr Everard (E&WSA&DCVA, 9 September 1921:3). Councillor White suggested that an archway be erected over the gateway with writing on either side (E&WSA&DCVA, 16 September 1921:3). The shire engineer submitted a design for the archway in December (E&WSA&DCVA, 9 December 1921:3).
The entrance to the site, probably in the early 1920s, with a new gateway with arch installed in ca1922. The gateway appears to be on or near the eastern boundary of the original two acres of the Memorial Park. Note the trees newly planted and the main road cutting already extant (EDHS Obj. Reg. 776).
Schoolteacher Miss Davies wrote to the Shire in 1922 asking for permission for school children to plant trees in the Memorial Park on Arbour Day. The Council was concerned that there should be supervision to prevent “indiscriminate planting”, indicating that there was an underlying plan for the plantings in the park. It was suggested that the children plant trees in the place of dead ones (E&WSA&DCVA, 9 June 1922:3).
A deputation of returned soldiers from Panton Hill, presumably the Panton Hill branch of the Returned Sailors and Soldiers Imperial League of Australia (RSSILA), attended a meeting of the Eltham Shire Council early in July 1922 and advised that they had a proposal for “a proper memorial to fallen soldiers”. The Panton Hill representatives thought that the memorial should be something that “all would be proud of, and so as to point a moral for future generations”. They also thought that “the memorial park should be a meeting place for patriotic gathering”. As far as the design of the monument was concerned, “the idea was to get away from the from the cut and dried designs supplied by monumental masons” (Advertiser, 7 July 1922:2).
Details of the Panton Hill returned soldiers’ proposal were elaborated in a newspaper report a couple of weeks later. They had thought the monument should be a cairn of local stone “sufficiently high to form a prominent and conspicuous landmark, and crowned with some suitable device”. They also suggested a flagstaff and a rotunda for visitors be erected, and that a German field gun be acquired. Money could be raised variously by a council grant, striking a 1½d in the pound rate on shire ratepayers, or by public subscriptions. Finally, the deputation suggested that a War Memorial Committee be appointed. The Council unanimously voted to support a grant towards the monument of £250 (Advertiser, 21 July 1922:4). A letter from C.T. Harris in the same issue of the newspaper elaborated on the memorial structure, which was to be “a cairn on which will be mounted a monument, something which, if all the ratepayers contribute to, they will be proud of” (Advertiser, 21 July 1922:3). The President of the Panton Hill branch of the RSSILA, Basil Hall, was credited with being the first to suggest a tower, and also with organising a committee to work for it (Advertiser, 19 November 1926:3).
The Memorial Park committee was soon organising subcommittees in local centres to raise funds for the monument in the Memorial Park. Sports meetings and bazaars were suggested for this purpose. “As this park is the Shire’s Memorial, it is to be hoped that all in the shire will work together towards financing a worthy object in the shape of a monument in honour of those who enlisted from the shire” (Advertiser, 15 September 1922:2). This is one of two newspaper reports where the purpose of the monument is described as being in memory of those who enlisted, rather than those who enlisted and fell. Another instance occurs in 1926. There may have been mixed opinions on which approach to take, but the general weight of evidence points to a dominant desire to promote the names of the fallen on the monument.
The Kangaroo Ground annual sports day in December 1922, with a dance in the evening, was held in aid of the Memorial Park. For the sports day the Mess brothers granted the use of a suitable field near the Kangaroo Ground settlement, which locals commented on favourably. Some even commented that this would have been more useful than the summit of Garden Hill as the memorial park (Advertiser, 22 December 1922:3; 5 January 1923:3).
On Anzac Day in 1923 1000 people gathered on the summit for a memorial service. A cairn was not mentioned. A procession of children from the surrounding schools headed by a brass band left the Shire Hall at Kangaroo Ground for Garden Hill. At the park, local member W.H. Everard complimented the Council “on acquiring such a beautiful piece of land as a memento of the boys who had done so much” (Advertiser, 27 April 1923:2). In planning for Anzac Day in 1924, the service at Garden Hill was timed so that services at Christmas Hills and Yarra Glen did not clash with that at Garden Hill, indicating that the day’s services included a central service at Garden Hill and separate services in surrounding local centres (Advertiser, 7 March 1924:4).
The cairn and flagstaff had been built before Anzac Day 1924, when a “small group” of 50 people gathered around this feature in the afternoon in the rain and a squally southerly wind. The committee had cancelled the service in the morning, and most did not attend. A Union Jack waved from the flagstaff on the summit of the hill (Advertiser, 2 May 1924:3). The summit of Garden Hill continued as a tourist venue. In 1925 the Eltham Progress Association hosted 60 sailors from the American fleet then visiting Melbourne, who arrived at Eltham on the train and were conveyed in cars to Garden Hill (Advertiser, 4 September 1925:4).
A gathering at the cairn in the Memorial Park, ca1924. There is a flagpole rising from the centre of the cairn. The cairn appears to be made of fieldstone from the site (Andrew Ross Museum photo). The Memorial Tower 1924-1926 A meeting for those interested in the establishing a War Memorial monument in the park was held in January 1924 and the Eltham Shire War Memorial League was formed for this purpose. It appears that the broad and rounded cairn that had been built was considered a temporary affair, and not the substantial cairn-as-monument, sufficiently high to form the conspicuous landmark, which had been envisaged by the Panton Hill RSSILA. The secretary of the new league suggested that the monument at Ladysmith (possibly the memorial at the Spion Kop battlefield in South Africa) was a suitable design (the Warrandyte war memorial has some resemblance). A means of providing for the care of the park was canvassed, and a pay-telescope/binoculars suggested (Advertiser, 25 January 1924:3). The accommodation of the more prosaic requirements for funding and care of the park with the more sacred requirements of the memorial function would prove to be an ongoing source of tension.
At the same meeting it was noted that a design competition had already been held for the Yarra Glen war memorial monument, and a similar process was approved for the Garden Hill monument design. The chairman of the League, Councillor B.Y. Hall, opined that the site of the memorial in Kangaroo Ground would be different from one in the city, lending itself to something rugged, instead of polished stone. The shire engineer had stated that the local stone could be formed into a column or an obelisk (Advertiser, 25 January 1924:3). “Tenders” were called in March for designs for the soldiers’ memorial. By this time £450 had already been raised (Argus, 15 March 1924:21). The coming monument at Garden Hill was intended to be a “splendid advertisement for the Shire”. “Because Hurstbridge had a memorial park already it was no reason the people should not be interested in a shire memorial (Advertiser, 28 March 1924:2).
By April 1924 thirty designs for a memorial had been received from Melbourne technical schools and monumental masons. None of the designs had made use of local stone, although this had been a requirement of the competition. For a meeting in May, three designs had been selected and of those, the design by the shire engineer Mr McCormack, for a 70ft tower suitable for construction in rough stone, was chosen (Advertiser, 22 February 1924:3; 18 April 1924:4; 9 May 1924:3).
Basil Hall, son of the Director of the National Gallery, reminisced in 1963 about the origins of the design of the tower. During a gathering on the verandah of his home at Panton Hill, which included the artist Harold Herbert and the Melbourne architect P.H. Meldrum (then in practice with A.G. Stephenson), the design for the tower was discussed. Hall recalled that Herbert had suggested that a peel tower-like design would be fitting for the site. Herbert then drew up a rough sketch that was approved of, and later P.H. Meldrum volunteered to draw up the design from sketch to architectural drawings (Age, 11 May 1963:18; Woiwod 1994, p.100). Presumably this episode took place in the second half of 1924, after the selection of the shire engineer’s competition entry.
Mrs White of Garden Hill had decided to give gratis to the Shire the small triangle of land abutting the southeast corner of the Memorial Park which allowed easier vehicular access (E&WSA&DCVA, 9 September 1921:3). While planning for the tower was under way, the transfer of this land to the Shire was completed (CT V2623 F542; Advertiser, 6 June 1924:4).
Land (shown in pink) acquired from the White family’s Garden Hill estate by the Shire of Eltham in 1924 (CT V2623 F542).
By January 1925 the Soldiers’ Memorial League had adopted Meldrum’s design for a 50ft high tower. Meldrum had also offered his design and supervision of construction free of charge. The cost of the tower was expected to be £500 (Advertiser, 16 January 1925:2; Age, 17 January 1925:11). For a meeting of the League in February Meldrum had adjusted his plan to suit the budget, now £750, and also to address the concerns of the League members at the previous meeting. The tower had been reduced in height to 40ft, with a proportionate reduction in width. Richard Weller had offered to provide and deliver stone from his nearby farm for £1 per cubic yard. 28 names of the fallen had been collected for the tablets. Meldrum suggested that the list of names should be located on the outside of the tower on a bronze tablet, with a marble tablet placed inside. Meldrum also suggested that the Shire run the project itself to save money (Advertiser, 6 February 1925:3).
At a League meeting in May 1925 there were further discussions about a source for the stone, including from Weller’s paddock or from the nearby Harkness paddock. Stonemasons were being sought out. Meldrum suggested that Weller’s quarry should be opened up so contractors could see the quality of the stone before pricing the work. Tenders already received were too high, and it was suggested fresh tenders be sought after the quarry was opened (Advertiser, 15 May 1925:3).
The Shire decided to provide the stone to the builders. The shire engineer advertised in November 1925 for two experienced men to quarry 200 cubic yards of stone at Kangaroo Ground for the War Memorial (Advertiser, 20 November 1925:3). The council wrote to Dr Ethel and Professor William Osborne about quarrying on their land and were given permission (Advertiser, 23 April 1926:4). By December three men were quarrying at the Osbornes’ and the stone was being transported to the War Memorial park (Advertiser, 11 December 1925:4). Sufficient stone had been quarried by February, and along with sand and cement it was all expected to be delivered to the site by the end of the month (Advertiser, 12 February 1926:3).
The use of “concrete blocks” in the lower corners and in horizontal bands to add strength was first suggested to the Council by one of the tenderers, Mr Johnson of Johnson and Pounder, in April 1926 (Advertiser, 20 November 1925:3). A May 1926 report stated that the tender of George Pownell [sic] of Mordialloc to build the tower for $680 had been accepted (Advertiser, 7 May 1926:2). The builder’s name was actually George Rousell. The use of concrete blocks was pursued and extended to all quoins and dressings. This initiative may have occurred independently of the Meldrum design. The main structure of the tower itself was of “reinforced concrete”, with the sandstone rubble applied as a veneer (Advertiser, 9 July 1926:2; 19 November 1926:3). Use of cast-concrete elements may have had to do with the unworkability or small size of the local stone, which may only have been suitable for rubble work. The 1926 Anzac Day service was held at the Panton Hill Hall, because the park at Garden Hill was still covered in building materials (Advertiser, 23 April 1926:3). By August the tower was 25ft high (Argus, 30 August 1926:18).
While work on the tower was under way, attention was also being payed to other improvements to the park. In July 1926 the Shire donated £10 for purchase of shrubs and trees to plant at a working bee before the opening of the Memorial (Advertiser, 30 July 1926:2). In August 1926 a working bee was to be held at the War Memorial. Two painters were required to paint the entrance [perhaps the gateway over the road], and men were wanted to dig holes and plant the ornamental trees (Advertiser, 13 August 1926:2). As a result, one hundred more trees were planted in the park (Argus, 30 August 1926 p.18). In September the League’s committee resolved to create a temporary honour board for the opening on Armistice day in November, and to set up a permanent Honour board in a year or two, thus enabling any errors to be corrected (Advertiser, 10 September 1926:3).
The tower near-complete in ca1926, with building materials still lying around (EDHS photo No.406).
In October 1926 final calls were made to correct any errors or omissions in the list of names of the fallen (Advertiser, 15 October 1926:4; 22 October 1926 p.2). The day of the opening was proclaimed a public holiday in the Shire. 1500 people attended the opening of the tower on Armistice Day 1926. School children from Eltham, Panton Hill, Hurstbridge, Kangaroo Ground, Research, and Queenstown formed a guard of honour for the Governor General and Lady Stonehaven as they approached the tower and unveiled the honour board with over 70 names of the fallen (Advertiser, 12 November 1926:3). At this stage a temporary honour roll was painted on the panels on either side of the tower entrance. The article on the opening in The Argus, which misnamed the tower as the “Warrandyte Memorial”, described the new structure as “uncommon and picturesque” (Argus, 13 November 1926:33).
Soon after the opening of the tower it was reported that the Eltham Shire War Memorial League had resolved to compile a record of “all those who had enlisted” from the Shire of Eltham, with the ultimate goal of the placement of a permanent honour board in brass letters on the memorial (Advertiser, 17 December 1926:2). Like the 1922 report referred to earlier, it may have been a mistake by the reporter. At a meeting in May 1926, the committee of the League had stated that “as regards to the names to be on the memorial, the committee will only be responsible for those who were killed” (Advertiser, 7 May 1926:2). Interwar and World War II history of the Memorial Park – 1926-1945 Motor tours In the interwar period a new form of tourism saw Garden Hill adopted as a favoured lookout destination. From the 1910s the road from Eltham through Kangaroo Ground, Watson’s Creek, and Christmas Hills to Yarra Glen became increasingly popular as a component of motorists’ day tours from Melbourne. Regular articles in the Argus espoused the virtues of this route and invariably included the Memorial Tower lookout as a key component of the trip. As early as 1912 an article described this tower and park as the “most picturesque” part of a circuit from Melbourne to Healesville and back, attracting a large number of motor tourists. At this stage, however, the roads were still unsealed, rough and slow. 1914 and 1918 tours in the newspapers used this road as a leg on a tour through Lilydale. A 1916 article recommended this section of road as part of trip to Kinglake via Diamond Creek, thence via Steele’s Creek to Yarra Glen, and back through Eltham (Argus, 20 March 1912 p.10; 30 December 1914; 29 November 1916 p.9; 31 July 1918 p.11).
The interests of touring motorists in the Memorial Park were made known to the Shire in 1922 when the National Roads Association wrote asking that the Shire invite the Automobile Club to participate in the unveiling of the monumnent at the park. The councillors agreed (Advertiser, 8 December 1922:3).
An advertisement by Shell in the Argus in 1929 again promoted this leg as part of a tour to Lilydale, as did a 1930 motor tour to Toolangi (Argus, 20 September 1929, p.8. 4 November 1930 p.3; 1 January 1932 p.7. Advertiser, 5 August 1938 p.2). The presence of the new structure added the event of climbing the tower and an enhanced view from the top.
Detail of 1930 topographic map showing the Memorial Tower on Garden Hill (Australian Section Imperial General Staff Great Britain, 1930, ‘Yan Yean, Victoria’ [cartographic material], Government Printer, Melbourne, SLV map collection).
Returned soldiers as caretakers and the first caretaker’s cottage In the interwar period a number of changes were made to enhance the experience of the park both for commemorative purposes and for use of the lookout. Early among these was the employment of caretakers and the addition of a caretaker’s cottage in ca1927. The need for a caretaker for the Memorial Park had been raised as early as 1924 (Advertiser, 25 January 1924:3). In April 1927 the Shire Council resolved to build a hut at the Memorial Park, and that £50 be provided annually for maintenance of the park. The hut was to be of rubble stone similar to the monument [possibly leftover stone was used], with an old-age pensioner to be engaged as a caretaker. A large number of motorists had been observed at the tower, and some had been annoyed that they could not get the key to the tower (Advertiser, 15 April 1927:3). The Memorial Park League had decided shortly before that the tower should be kept locked (Advertiser, 17 December 1926:2).
The first caretaker was attending at the park by 1929 (Advertiser, 7 June 1929:4). Returned soldier and local Charles (Charlie) Harris is said to have filled this role and is also said to have planted Cypress trees in the grounds. He later had an orchard on the Panton Hill Road (Woiwod 1994, p.244).
The 1928 memorial service at the Tower was conducted by the Reverend Bishop Stevens of Eltham. Children from throughout the Shire were invited to attend. The service, which took place “in beautiful weather” and opened with the singing of the national anthem, was “full of pathos, as was seen from the expressions of parents who stood around the sacred circle and joined in the service”. The Bishop noted in his address that “until recently we in Australia had no great event in history. There were great men who had lived here, but there was no national life to look back to with pride, and nothing to kindle the imagination of the children. … We have now a national anniversary of heroism and endurance during a four years’ struggle … There is now something to be taught with pride” (Advertiser, 13 April 1928:2; 27 April 1928:2). At the Armistice Day service in November 1928 the reveille and the ‘Last Post’ were to be sounded from the top of the Tower (Advertiser, 2 November 1928:2).
In 1929 branches of the RSSILA were notified that 400 reproductions of the painting ‘Menin Gate at Midnight’ had been made available to the Association by the artist William Longstaff, who had once been a resident of Eltham. Because the name of one of the soldiers from the Shire, Private John Jell of Yarra Glen, was inscribed on the Menin Gate, the Eltham Shire was among the first to be offered one of the reproductions (Advertiser, 27 January 1928:2; 9 August 1929:4). The Council decided to procure the picture for the Soldiers’ Memorial Hall at Yarra Glen (Advertiser, 6 September 1929:4). The acquisition of the painting was celebrated at an unveiling at the Yarra Glen Memorial Hall in November 1929 (Advertiser, 20 September 1929:2).
In1929 preparations for the permanent roll of the names of the enlisted who had died were under way (Advertiser, 11 October 1929:4). The existing temporary honour roll had been painted on the rendered panels on either side of the tower entrance. In September 1930 a “handsome” tablet costing over £100 and bearing the names of those who served and fell during the Great War was erected on the tower above the arch of the doorway (Advertiser, 5 September 1930:4).
The tower in the late 1920s, showing the temporary painted honour roll in the panels on either side of the tower entrance (Andrew Ross Museum photo).
The Shire Council was offered two captured German field guns by the Australian Military Forces in 1929 (Advertiser, 11 October 1929:2). These were arranged on the plinth on either side of the tower entrance. They “disappeared” during World War II. A sketch of the tower by Kenneth Jack dated December 1943 shows the field guns still in place (Woiwod 1994, p.202).
A set of “handsome” cast-iron direction plates were fixed to the top of the tower in 1931. This initiative was led by Councillor Rutter, chairman of the Shire Memorial committee, and information was supplied by the chief draughtsman of the Lands Department (Advertiser, 1 May 1931:4). In 1932 council decided to obtain some more Cypresses for the park (Advertiser, 5 August 1932:6). It appears that some Sugar Gums had already been planted and grown up, as in 1935 the council undertook to lop them (Advertiser, 7 June 1935:5). At some point, probably in the mid-1930s, the timber doors in the tower entrance were replaced with iron gates. The gates can be seen in photos of the 1951 re-dedication, indicating they were probably added in the 1940s.
Returned soldier W. Cottier was the caretaker from ca1932. In June 1932 returned soldier Horace H. Brown replaced Cottier for three months, as Cottier had been ordered to rest due to ill health (Advertiser, 3 June 1932:2). Cottier resigned as caretaker in September 1932 (Advertiser, 9 September 1932:2). The staggering of times for services at the Garden Hill monumnent and at Christmas Hills continued (Advertiser, 21 April 1933:1).
It appears that William Carroll was the caretaker at the Memorial Park from ca1934. He was paid £42 per year for his duties, which included (in Carroll’s own words) preventing wandering Kangaroo Ground cows from desecrating the memorial (Advertiser, 20 July 1934:2). In June 1934 there were complaints from the Kangaroo Ground Branch of the Australian Women’s National League (AWNL) about problems at the last Anzac Day service. The complaints included reference to a failure by the caretaker (then William Carroll), to hoist the flag in time for the service. He had been referred to by these correspondents as a “nerve shattered” returned soldier who was a “pathetic case” (Advertiser, 29 June 1934:4).
A flurry of defending letters from returned soldiers appeared in the local newspaper. One described how the caretaker, who had been at the front three times and had been decorated for valour, had “transformed the neglected grounds of the memorial park into gardens”. He had also proved an informed guide on matters of the Great War for many visitors, “transforming what would otherwise be an uninteresting visit to one of many memorials into one of special significance”. It appears that the rope on the flagpole had rotted, and Carroll would have been forced to climb the pole to replace it. (The pole was replaced by sustenance men soon after.) It also appears there was a wider dispute than the matter of the caretaker, which concerned the desire of the local AWNL branch for women to be represented on the Memorial Park committee. Women’s involvement in the park had largely been confined to auxiliary type activities such as raising funds at bazaars and providing catering at services at the tower. This call from the AWNL was derided as mere politicking by same the correspondents who came forward to defend Carroll, although in fact the AWNL was a very conservative organization (Advertiser, 6 July 1934:5; 13 July 1934:4; 20 July 1934:2; 27 July 1934:1; 7 December 1934:6).
Carroll had served 1765 days abroad including at Gallipoli and in France. He had once been a heavyweight-boxing champion, but despite his impressive stature, after the war he suffered periodically from the effects of “trench fever” and gas poisoning (Advertiser, 6 July 1934:5). In 1920 the Closer Settlement Board acquired for Carroll the 84-acre Lot 4 Section 3 Parish of Nillumbik, nearby to the east. Locals had helped Carroll to plant his first five acres of crop. Because of his difficulties, in 1926 he attempted to transfer the lease to a local farmer. The Board refused, and Carroll’s lease was made void in 1927 due to failure to pay instalments (VPRS 5714/P0, Unit 1445, File 6119/86; Advertiser, 20 July 1934:2). The local community again took up his cause and in the early 1930s he was given the position of caretaker of the Eltham Shire offices (Woiwod 1995, p.196). The offices burned down while he as caretaking there in 1934 (Advertiser, 9 February 1934:1). It appears Carroll became the caretaker of the Memorial Park soon after.
Caretaker William ‘Tiny’ Carroll, easily distinguished by his stature, with Joyce McMahon, daughter of the Shire secretary, at the tower in c1934. The low rubble stone plinth around the tower is visible, as well as the Sugar Gums behind the tower. The boundary Cypresses are just visible in the background (EDHS Photo No.262).
Following the controversy over the caretaker in 1934, there were discussions at a council meeting over who was actually in control of the park. The League committee had not met for a “considerable time”, and the council paid the caretaker (Advertiser, 10 August 1934:2). This situation was probably related to the difficulties of the Depression. The Eltham Shire subsequently took over full control of the Memorial Park from the committee. The collection box was removed, as “it was felt that it detracted from the dignity of the park” (Advertiser, 7 September 1934:7).
Caretaker Carroll entertained a party of visitors to the park in November 1934 (Advertiser, 2 November 1934:3). In January 1935 Mr Petch was the relief caretaker while Carroll was on holidays (Advertiser, 18 January 1935:1). The RSSILA held a monthly meeting for the first time at the caretaker’s cottage in June 1935. They had decided to hold regular meetings at the Memorial Park as several member lived in the Kangaroo Ground area (Advertiser, 14 June 1935:2). Returned soldier and pensioner Gordon Carter of Watsons Creek shot himself at the tower in 1936 (Advertiser, 8 May 1936:2). Later in 1936 Carroll fell 20ft down the stairs in the Tower, as a result of “taking ill from the effects of gas” (Advertiser, 2 October 1936:4).
The tower from the west, ca1936, with young Cypress or Pine tree in the foreground and Eucalypts, possibly the Sugar Gums, behind. Note also the low rubble wall forming the square platform around the tower (EDHS photo No.87).
In 1937 Carroll was seriously ill in St Vincent’s Hospital for some weeks (Advertiser, 2 April 1937:4). By mid-June he was back at the park, reporting that he had had one of the busiest days since he had been at the tower (Advertiser, 18 June 1937:5). But he was soon back in the Caulfield Military Hospital and resigned in October 1938 (Advertiser, 13 September 1938:1; 13 October 1938:1). Carroll died in Echuca in 1957 (BDM Event No.19594/1957).
The Memorial Tower was also involved on the occasion of the burial of a local returned soldier. In 1937 John Kennedy, of a longstanding local family from Watsons Creek, died at the Austin Hospital in Heidelberg. On the day of his burial at the nearby Kangaroo Ground cemetery the flag on the Tower was flown at half-mast (Advertiser, 30 April 1937:2).
Control of the park and tower was again under question in March 1938, when a deputation from the Diamond Creek RSSILA requested the formation of a committee of management. Council resolved to form a committee with three councillors and three representatives of the Diamond Creek RSSILA (Advertiser, 11 March 1938:5). The Diamond Creek RSSILA’s interest in the monument had been shown on Anzac Day 1936 when the members marched to the monument in Diamond Creek before making their way to the Kangaroo Ground tower for a further service. The attendance overall at Garden Hill had been small, with Eltham the only local centre to be well represented (Advertiser, 1 May 1936:1). By June 1938 the “Memorial Tower Committee” had been appointed. It requested that Council approve additions to caretaker’s residence to accommodate a married couple, as well as a kiosk to serve the public. A collection box, however, was considered by the committee to be beneath the dignity of the place. The Council was also requested to brighten up the interior of the tower by painting it white (Advertiser, 10 June 1938:1). The latter appears to have occurred at this point.
In a response to the Committee’s requests for on-site fund raising, Councillor Price said that it was “disgraceful for the councillors to suggest making money out of a spot sacred to the soldiers who had given their lives in the Great War’. He also considered that the tower was not a place for picnicking. Other councillors had a variety of opinions on the matter. Councillor Dawson suggested that it was “a bigger disgrace and a slur on returned soldiers for the council to allow things to go on as they were at present”. Attention was also drawn to the fact that the committee had not held a service at the tower on Anzac Day, although in fact the committee had not been formed until after that occasion (Advertiser, 10 June 1938:1).
The tower was without a caretaker by early 1939, and some were worried that the place was being neglected. The committee which had been appointed by council was disheartened, as every suggestion they made to council was turned down. The possibility of handing control of the Memorial Tower over to the RSSILA was raised again (Advertiser, 24 February 1939:3). A letter from a Melbourne resident in a Sydney paper in 1940 [if not out of date] suggests that Carroll may have still been present. It described the “popular visiting place for motorists” its “impressive and very useful” war memorial giving “splendid” views. Callers were made welcome by the guardian of the tower, ‘Tiny’ Carroll, who “told many a stirring tale of the Great War” (Smiths Weekly, 16 March 1940:14).
In May 1942 the then caretaker, returned soldier C.T. Harris, resigned as he was now working in munitions (E&WSA, 15 May 1942:2; Advertiser, 9 September 1934:7). A Mr Stevenson was interviewed for the role in June 1942 (E&WSA, 12 June 1942:1). However, it appears that after Harris’s departure no new caretaker was appointed. The condition of the park was thought to be deteriorating as a result, and the head teacher at the Kangaroo Ground school, Mr Phelan, organised weekly visits to the Memorial Park by the children to tend to the grounds (E&WSA, 17 July 1942:2).
Post-World War 2 to the 1970s
The 1951 rededication ceremony. Note the size of eucalypts behind and the small palm at lower left (EDHS Photo No.2113-3).
Rededication and new caretaker’s cottage 1951 In the 1930s there had been calls for rooms to be added to the caretaker’s cottage to allow for a married couple in the position (see above). In 1945 the Shire readvertised for tenders for additions and alterations to the cottage at the Shire of Eltham Memorial Tower (Age, 22 August 1945:9). It appears that this did not go ahead.
A photo taken during the rededication ceremony in 1951 shows the iron gates which replaced the original timber doors (EDHS photo SEPP-0408).
By 1951 a new four-roomed cottage costing £2500 was being built to house a returned soldier as a caretaker of the “memorial grounds”. In May, while the “shire war memorial cottage” was near completed and still unoccupied, it was subject to theft on three occasions. The bath, kitchen sink, timber, doors and windows were among the items stolen. The Shire president stated that the thefts were “sacrilege” and that the thieves had “desecrated holy ground”. Council employee Mr Roger Gevaux (also referred to as the caretaker, see below) put in a temporary door. The likely culprits probably came from the ranks of the many home builders active in the immediate post-war period. The police and local RSL planned to mount a guard until the cottage was opened in September. It appears the Governor had previously been asked to open the cottage three times, but each time thefts and damage had necessitated postponements (Herald, 26 May 1951:3; Argus, 26 May 1951:5).
The new caretaker’s cottage in May 1951, with the tower in the background (Argus, 26 May 1951:5).
On 17 November 1951, according to the Age account of the event, the Governor Sir Dallas Brooks visited to “re-dedicate the tower and dedicate the new caretaker’s cottage to the fallen of both wars”. This wording is closely followed in a report in The News (Ivanhoe). The new tablets above the tower door unveiled by the Governor included the names of 28 men from the district who gave their lives in the 1939-45 war. A separate area was set aside at the ceremony for “next-of-kin of the fallen heroes” (Argus, 17 November 1951:7; Age, 17 November 1951:2; The News (Ivanhoe), 9 November 1951, excerpted in EDHS 2010, p.46).
A strip of land enlarging the entrance triangle to the Memorial Park was transferred from Herbert Gepp’s Allotment 3 Section 2 farm to Shire of Eltham ownership in 1952 (CT V4830 F993). This was needed because of the widening of the road and the deepening of the road cutting.
Land acquired by the Shire of Eltham from Herbert Gepp’s Garden Hill estate in 1952, in pink (CT V4830 F993). Promotion of motor tours continues Promotion of the tower as a stopping point in motor tours from Melbourne increased in the early 1950s. The Argus featured RACV tours which included the tower (Argus, 13 October 1953:8). The Herald’s “Motor Tours” also included the tower. A 1954 motor tour in the Herald detailed the many views available from the tower, and also mentioned that drivers should take care on the single-lane approach (Herald 27 May 1954:14). The tower was included in a bicycle tour from Melbourne described by new Australian Ray Attwater in the Argus in 1954 (Argus, 14 May 1954:22).
The fire spotting role of the tower The first mention of the potential for use of the tower for fire spotting was in 1939. Mr R.D. Ness, secretary of the Kangaroo Ground bush fire brigade, asked Council that the tower be used as on observation tower for detecting bush fires, and also asked Council to arrange a telephone to be installed. It was suggested that if the Shire were to appoint a caretaker for the Memorial Park, his duties could also include raising the alarm in the event of a fire. Mr McMullins of Flat Rock had volunteered to act as observation officer for three hottest months of the year (Advertiser, 6 April 1939:1). Later in 1939 the council resolved to apply for one of the 20 radio transmitters which the Forestry Commission planned to install at vantage places throughout the state (Advertiser, 17 November 1939:2).
The first dedicated spotter, from December1948, was Mr Smith of Warrandyte. Mr Roger Gevaux, described as the then caretaker of the Memorial Park, took over in 1950. In 1951 the spotter’s salary was being paid jointly by the Forestry Commission and the Country Fire Authority (CFA). In 1968 the Forestry Commission pushed for an enclosed cabin for the spotter. Local Returned Services League sub-branches opposed the move as inappropriate on a war memorial. The Shire set up a Committee of Management and sought advice from architecture professor Brian Lewis at the University of Melbourne who, along with the aging Percy Meldrum, assured them that a cabin could be added without prejudicing the aesthetics of the tower. The Shire committee suggested that the CFA could build a better spotting tower elsewhere, but the CFA and the then spotter, Herman Motschall, asserted that the Memorial Tower was excellent for the purpose. A prefabricated glazed cabin was finally lifted into place by crane in 1974. This involved the removal of the original stone structure around the rooftop exit door (Woiwod, 1994, pp.200-202; EDHS 2010 p.69).
Tenders were invited by the Shire for construction of a brick toilet at the park in 1969 (Age, 18 January 1969:43). Tenders were invited for installation of a mobile radio base station tower at the park in 1979 (Age, 27 June 1979:27).
Another block of land to the west of the original 2 acres was purchased by the Eltham Shire from the then owners of this part of Allotment 4, Marcia and Charles Coleman, in 1973. It appears this was intended to provide improved road access to the park. This later became the site for the Moor-rul viewing platform and the grasslands project (CT V9077 F.24). Recent activity – 1990s–present The square plinth around the tower was levelled off in 1994, with a new retaining wall. An area was paved in front of the tower entrance (EDHS 2010, p.55). David Stewart, who was the caretaker in 1996, first drew attention to the need for interpretive signage, he had found that many visitors had no knowledge of the memorial function of the park and tower (EDHS 2010, p.69). The platform around the tower was paved in 1994. A hedge at the outside edge of the platform was also removed (EDHS 2010, p.55). In 1997 the Nillumbik Shire Council put in place an advisory committee to plan for refurbishment of the site (EDHS 2010, p.69). Floodlights were donated by Telstra when it built a telephone tower on land to the east in 1999 (EDHS 2010, p.85).
Bugler atop the tower at the 2001 rededication ceremony (EDHS photo No. 2543-6).
At a rededication ceremony in 2001 two bronze plaques for the fallen in the Korea, Borneo, Malaya and Vietnam conflicts were installed in the panels on either side of the doorway of the tower. This coincided with the 75th anniversary of the monument. A stone-mounted engraving of Kenneth Jack’s 1943 sketch of the tower was also unveiled in this ceremony (EDHS 2010, p.88).
By 2001 there were only two Livistonia palms left of the seven which had originally been planted around the tower in a “Commonwealth star pattern”. The date these were planted and by whom is not known. There is a palm in one of the photos of the rededication ceremony in 1951 (EDHS photo Obj. Reg. 7, see above). Seven new palms were gifted by Nick Archer’s nursery and planted in 2001 (EDHS 2010, pp.64, 66 & 80). Seats and tables were added to the park in 2004 (EDHS 2010, p.84). A memorial seat was placed inside the tower (EDHS 2010, p.85).
A ‘Lone Pine’, descended from the original tree from Gallipoli, was planted in 2005 in memory of Eltham Shire enlistees who had died at Gallipoli (EDHS 2010, attachment). River Manna Gum (E. viminalis) and Candlebark (E. rubida) were also planted at this time (ARM 2020 pers. comm.). The 1969 toilets were replaced in 2005 (EDHS 2010, p.86).
The idea for a viewing platform came from caretaker Dean Stewart. The Moor-rul viewing platform, designed by local architect Dennis Ward, was opened in the western section of the park in 2008. The Nillumbik Reconciliation Charter was launched by Aunty Dot Peters senior Wurundjeri Elder and Jenny Maclin MP on the same occasion. The pavilion contained eight double-sided interpretation panels highlighting the area’s indigenous, World War I and local history (EDHS 2010, pp.91, 96-97).
A new fire spotting cabin, which included the latest technology, was installed soon after the 2009 Black Saturday fires. The old stairs inside the tower were also replaced in 2010 with a steel spiral staircase (EDHS 2010, p.102 & attachment). References: Advertiser (Hurstbridge), as cited. The Age (Melbourne), as cited. Andrew Ross Museum members/curators (ARM), 2020, personal comments as cited. The Argus (Melbourne), as cited. The Australasian (Melbourne), as cited. Australian Section Imperial General Staff Great Britain, 1930, ‘Yan Yean, Victoria’ [cartographic material], Government Printer, Melbourne, SLV map collection. Billis, R.V., and A.S. Kenyon, 1974, Pastoral Pioneers of Port Phillip, Stockland Press, Melbourne. Births Deaths Marriages Victoria (BDM), as cited. Boyce, James, 2011, 1835: The founding of Melbourne and the conquest of Australia, Black Inc., Melbourne. Broome, Richard, 2005, Aboriginal Victorians: A history since 1800, Allen & Unwin, Sydney. Certificates of Title (CT), as cited. Ellender, Isobel, 1999, ‘Archaeological Survey of the Shire of Eltham’, Shire of Eltham, Eltham. Eltham and Whittlesea Shire Advertiser (E&WSA), as cited. Eltham and Whittlesea Shire Advertiser and Diamond Creek Valley Advocate (E&WSA&DCVA), as cited. Eltham District Historical Society (EDHS), 2010, ‘The Tower of Remembrance and War Memorial Park on Garden Hill at Kangaroo Ground, Victoria, 1919-2010’, EDHS, Eltham (Vic.). Memorial Park on Garden Hill at Kangaroo Ground’, EDHS, Eltham (Vic.). Evelyn Observer and Bourke East Record (EO&BER), as cited. Evelyn Observer and South and East Bourke Record (EO&S&EBR), as cited. Gammage, Bill, 2011, The Biggest Estate on Earth: How Aborigines made Australia, Allen & Unwin, Sydney. Geelong Advertiser, as cited. The Herald (Melbourne), as cited. Kellaway, Carlotta, 1992, ‘Environmental History of the Shire of Eltham’, in ‘Shire or Eltham Heritage Study 1992’, edited by David Bick, Shire of Eltham, Eltham. The Leader (Melbourne), as cited. Melbourne Daily News, as cited. Nillumbik Parish Plan. Port Phillip Gazette and Settler’s Journal, as cited. Smith’s Weekly (Sydney), as cited. Weekly Times (Melbourne), as cited. Wilkinson, David, 1969, ‘The Early History of the Diamond Valley’, unpublished M.A thesis, University of Melbourne. Woiwod, Mick, 2011, Forgotten Country: The Hidden Cultural Landscapes of Melbourne's Middle Yarra, Andrew Ross Museum, Kangaroo Ground Vic. ––––––––––––, 1994, Kangaroo Ground: The Highland Taken, Tarcoola Press, Maryborough, Vic.