IT WAS a case of history repeating itself at the unveiling of a
new monument to honour the Burke and Wills expedition on Monday.
The monument
is Swan Hill’s second tribute to the Burke and Wills expedition, and was
publicly unveiled with the help of a second John Forrest.
The first came in
1914, when a granite obelisk called the Explorer’s Memorial was opened by
explorer Sir John Forrest at the site where the expedition party was farewelled
— in the McCallum Street median strip near Curlewis Street.
Ninety-eight
years later, Member for Mallee John Forrest, along with Swan Hill mayor Les
McPhee and sculptor Dr Ross Bastiaan, unveiled a bronze plaque next to its
predecessor in honour of the 150th anniversary of the Burke and Wills
expedition.
For more on this story, see Wednesday’s edition of The Guardian (5/12/12).
