Time Travellers in Essendon, Flemington and the Keilor Plains

 

The Burke and Wills tree, Essendon

 

Today, Time Travellers, we are going to pay a little visit to the old Burke and Wills tree to see if we can put a date on some of the photos.

 

 

Tree marking the site of the first overnight camp of Burke and Wills, Moonee Ponds, Victoria. SLV puts the date between 1898 and 1906, colored by T.W. Cameron 110 Lygon St. Carlton Victoria Australia in that time frame.  From a slide show on the subject of the Victorian Exploration Expedition in the State Library of Victoria Collection, MS13867/42.  The photograph shows no sign of electric power lines, which confirms the date as pre-1906.  The picket fencing was installed by Council in 1885.  The houses were built in 1883, and the ornamental shrubs would appear to have several years' growth, so the date is likely to be circa 1886.   Cameron probably acquired the photo from another source to colour for a Burke and Wills slide show. 

 

The Borough Surveyor was directed to prepare plans to erect picket fences around the Mt Alexander Rd, Plantations.    The plantation with the tree would have been Plantation 4.

 

ESSENDON COUNCIL. (1885, May 1). North Melbourne Advertiser (Vic. : 1873 - 1894), p. 3. Retrieved November 23, 2015, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article66154589

 

 

 

These two photos of the tree from the National Library of Australia were mislabelled as being at Royal Park.  They are interesting for showing the gas lamp standards in Mt Alexander Rd.  Gas lamps were installed up to Taylor St, Moonee Ponds by 1883.  There were many complaints about the Gas Company being slow to install further lamps, but it would appear that they were installed further north along Mt Alexander Road by 1886.  These photos probably date around that time.  E.W. Searle collection of photographs, National Library of Australia, http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-vn4654382.

 

 

E.W. Searle collection of photographs, National Library of Australia,  http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-vn4654063

The photos also show recent plantings of  small trees.  Acknowledgement of intention to publish NLAref95238.

 

"Cr. Taylor maintained that the old Council were to blame, and not the Company, in stopping at Taylor street".

 

ESSENDON COUNCIL. (1883, April 27). North Melbourne Advertiser (Vic. : 1873 - 1894), p. 2. Retrieved November 28, 2015, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article66159025

 

 

"Immediately outside the reserve is an ancient gum tree, dead, indeed, but carefully fenced off, under which Burke and Wills's party camped on their first night after leaving Melbourne in 1861 on their memorable expedition to the interior".

 

A FINE ROSERY. (1897, November 27). The Australasian (Melbourne, Vic. : 1864 - 1946), p. 13. Retrieved November 15, 2015, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article138631042

 

The preservation of an old gum tree at Moonee Ponds, under whose shelter the ill-fated Burke and Wills expedition made its first halt, after its start on the 20th August, 1860, has ever been a matter of concern to the Essendon council. It is a grim relic of the courageous attempt of the intrepid explorers, and here it was that they watered their camels and rested under its shelter. The council has now decided to erect a picket fence for its protection, and to mark the dead eucalyptus with a commemorative tablet.

 

The Horsham Times. (1896, October 13). The Horsham Times (Vic. : 1882 - 1954), p. 2. Retrieved November 15, 2015, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article73117529

 

 

"Views of Essendon.  The Old Gum - Burke and Wills' first camping place". This is an early example of a postcard of a local attraction.  The SLV dates this image as circa 1905.  The absence of electrical power lines and poles firmly dates it prior to 1906 when electricity came to Essendon. From the State Library of Victoria Collection, H36145/32.

 

This photo shows trees in the proximity of the Burke and Wills tree which look about the same size as those in the photo below which dates to 1910.  Courtesy of the Moonee Valley Library Service Comunity Heritage Collection. Ref HER-00102.

 

 

This photograph of the St Thomas' Grammar School cadets was taken in the vicinity of the Burke and Wills tree circa 1910.  From the State Library of Victoria Collection, H2004.61/235.  Photographer Ruth Hollick.

 

 

A detail from the circa 1910 photo of the St Thomas' Grammar School Cadets, taken in the median strip in Mt Alexander Rd, shows the Burke and Wills tree in the background.  In this photo you can see the electric power lines in a gap between the trees, which are absent in earlier photos.  From the State Library of Victoria Collection, H2004.61/235.  Photographer Ruth Hollick.

 

 

 This postcard is taken looking towards Queen's Park. In 1915 the Council removed the timber picket fence and replaced it with a wire fence so presumably the postcard dates from about 1915 or a little later. From the State Library of Victoria Collection, H38149.

 

 

BURKE AND WILLS TREE.

"Under this tree Burke and Wills rested for the first night after they had set out on their great expedition into the interior. It is situated in Queen's Park, Moonee Ponds. The Essendon City Council recently cut it down as shown, and will shortly erect a guard rail around the butt and attach a brass commemorative plate".

 

BURKE AND WILLS TREE. (1927, May 5). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), p. 17. Retrieved November 15, 2015, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3852646

1927

 

Photo by G Payne.

No title. (1927, December 31). The Australasian (Melbourne, Vic. : 1864 - 1946), p. 56. Retrieved November 15, 2015, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article140808989

 

Not the Explorers' Tree

 

ESSENDON is very particular about its ancient history, and at the risk of spreading gloom by the shattering of a tradition the author of the district's chronicles (Mr J. McJunkln) points out that the old red gum on the Mt. Alexander Road does not mark the first camp of the Burke and Wills expedition after it left Royal Park on its ill-fated journey.

 

The explorers camped about a quarter of a mile away, watering their horses and camels at the chain of ponds which has since been transformed into the ornamental lake of Queen's Park.

 

The genuine explorers' tree grew at what is now the intersection of the Strand and Robinson Street. The oldest inhabitants support Mr McJunkin. Cr. E. H. Kinnear, who was born close to the explorers' actual camping place, says that councillors know full well that a false glamor has been woven round the gnarled trunk now covered with ivy and standing in the street plantation. He believes the tradition arose years ago through the statement of a councillor, who wished to preserve the tree from the municipal axe, and with that object invested it with historical significance.

 

In Town and Out (1930, July 10). The Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 - 1954), p. 4.  http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article242816383

 

 

 

From the State Library of Victoria Collection, showing the encroachment of the suburb in the background.  Taken circa 1936. The tree was removed by the council in 1938.  A higher resolution copy of this photo downloadable from the State Library enables the sign to be read. H91.50/569  

 

 

"An interesting, if somewhat weather beaten, relic of the journey of these explorers may be seen in a reserve in  Mount Alexander- road, a few hundred yards north of the town hall. It is an aged tree stump, almost wholly covered by a creeper. Affixed to the stump, the remnant of a stately gum tree (which should soon be replaced by a memorial cairn) is a tin plate on which is the following inscription: — " CITY OF ESSENDON. Under this tree and in its immediate vicinity the Burke and Wills exploration party camped, August, 1860."

 

[No heading]. (1936, August 12). The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954), p. 17. Retrieved November 15, 2015, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page19260259

 

 

Historic Tree.

Time marches on, and sentiment, apparently, cannot be allowed to stand in the path of progress. To-day the stump of the old tree under which Burke and Wills camped on their first night out from Melbourne In August, 1860, will be dug out by employes of Essendon city council. The council is laying down plantations, and the old tree was in the way, and it was officially decreed that it had to go. Residents of Moonee Ponds and Essendon will miss the familiar landmark in Mt. Alexander-road, opposite Queen's Park. Bearing a simple inscription that two brave men slept beneath it before facing their deaths in the pioneering of a continent, the old tree braved many a storm. But the passage of 78 years took its toll, and old limbs broke under the strain, until in the last few years all that remained was a stump that all the forces of nature seemed powerless to destroy. Human agency, however, will tear it out by the roots. The stump will probably be presented to some historical society and preserved, and near the spot where the tree stood for so many years a memorial tablet will be placed. No doubt, however, despite the rush and bustle of 1938, the spirit of 1860 will still hover.

 

NEWS OF THE DAY. (1938, June 16). The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954), p. 10. Retrieved November 15, 2015, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article206954400

 

The tree stump was replaced by a small granite memorial in 1938.  This is still in situ in the median strip of Mt Alexander Rd, Moonee Ponds, near the front gate of the Moonee Ponds Bowling club. 

 

"This stone marks the first camping site of the Burke and Wills expedition 20th August 1860. 

Presented by Cr L T Thompson, JP, Mayor of Essendon, Year 1938."  Photo: Lenore Frost, 20 May 2011.

 

The Essendon Historical Society has other photos of the historic tree, plus an old mirror said to have been found hanging on a nail in a tree at the campsite.  Mr Burke may have peered into that mirror to comb his whiskers!

 

Thank you Alex Bragiola and Dave Phoenix for adding to my knowledge of the tree and surrounds.   You can learn more about the Victorian Exploration Expedition at the very extensive Burke & Wills Web.

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