3-017-118 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Burke and Wills Monument at Melbourne, Australia, 1865. 'The monument which has been erected in the city of Melbourne to the memory of Robert O'Hara Burke and William John Wills, who, in June, 1861, died in the bush from the sufferings and privations which they endured upon their return route in exploring the continent of Australia from south to north, was inaugurated on April 21. This monument [designed by Charles Summers] - for which a sum of £4000 was voted by the Victorian Legislature - consists of a statue of each of the two distinguished explorers, placed on a granite pedestal 15 ft. high. The figure of Burke (the taller of the two) is about 12 ft. in height. The attitude in which the men are represented is natural and effective. Wills is in a sitting posture, and Burke is standing with his right arm resting upon his companion's left shoulder. He is surveying the country to the left, and is calling the attention of Wills to some particular features, and Wills, with pencil in hand, is making a note of them. Both men are in bush costume...The material as well as the workmanship is all colonial, the granite being from the Harcourt quarries, and the bronze being composed of Adelaide copper and Beechworth tin'. From "Illustrated London News", 1865.