Enterprize Landing Memorial

Standing on the banks of the Yarra River next to Queen's Bridge is one of our favourite Melbourne spots, Enterprize Landing Memorial.

The 'real' birthplace of Melbourne, founded on Sunday, August 30, 1835, by the settlers from the schooner Enterprize.

It's surprising how many Melburnian's are unaware of it's significance or existence!

Accompanying 5 statues figures staring out accross the Yarra River are plaques commemorating the memorial. Well worth a stroll down the river from Southgate (on the city side) and then cross over Queensbridge Street. Map marked Turning Basin

(click to enlarge)

General Information

Foundation Day FAQs - Melbourne and its beginnings

Q: When was the Founding of Melbourne, and who was responsible?

A: Melbourne was founded on Sunday, August 30, 1835, by the settlers from the schooner Enterprize. They landed on the north bank of the Yarra River, close to where Customs House stands today and the place now known as Enterprize Park.

Q: Who led these people, and why did they choose the spot they did?

A: The people came from Launceston in Van Diemens Land, and they were after land for grazing sheep. They were led by John Lancey, who was put in that position by John Pascoe Fawkner.

Fawkner owned the boat, but did not sail on its first trip into the Port Phillip District because he was forced behind by creditors.

They picked the site [roughly under Queens Bridge] because there was a small waterfall, or rapids, that stopped further progress up the river. The waterfall also separated the tidal movement from fresh water at that site. The waterfall had previously been found and noted by the Colony of New South Wales' surveyor, Charles Grimes, in 1803.

The Enterprize was tied up beside the north bank of the Yarra in August 1835 and the settlement of Melbourne began.

Q: Fawkner was not there, but was John Batman?

A: No. John Batman had become ill on the voyage aboard the Rebecca and had been dropped off on the Bellarine Peninsula at Indented Head where he established a camp. He later walked overland to Melbourne.

Q: So, our founders were not explorers, they were people on a search for land?

A: Yes, and although the government objected, events had been set in train that could not be stopped. Because of the action of those from the Enterprize, the great City of Melbourne now stands.

Q: Apart from John Lancey, who were the other first settlers?

A: There was George Evans, a builder; carpenters William Jackson and Robert Hay Marr; blacksmith James Gilbert and his wife Mary; and a ploughman named Wise.

Also present to see the first settlers divide the land between them into lots along the river and commence the first building, was the commander of the Enterprize, Captain Hunter, two sailors, and Evan Evans, servant to George Evans.

Others would follow, like Fawkner, Batman, Gellibrand, Hoddle and Swanston to help shape the future Melbourne.

The people from the Enterprize were our first settlers, and through their efforts Melbourne was sited where it stands today.

Enterprize Landing Memorial Plaque

In memory of those who landed here in 1835 as the first settlement by Europeans, of the site that would become the City of Melbourne.

The schooner Enterprize (Captain Peter Hunter) from Launceston Tasmania, reached this stretch of the Yarra River on 29 August. On the following day Sunday 30th August, the horses and deck cargo were unloaded.

When the Enterprize returned to Launceston, the seven who remained were: John Lancey (master mariner) George Evans (settler) Evan Evans (his servant) James Gilbert, Thomas Morgan and Charles Wise, (servants of J.P. Fawkner - Owner of the schooner).

Mary Gilbert (the only woman in the party) was James Gilbert's wife gave birth on the 29th December 1835 to a son James, the first European child born in Melbourne.

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ENTERPRIZE TO SAIL AGAIN FOR MELBOURNE

Plans to commemorate Melbourne's Foundation Day each year with a re-enactment of the voyage of the city's first settlers moved a step closer today as the State Government added its financial support to an historic shipbuilding project on the Yarra River.

The Premier, Mr Kennett, presented $100,000 to the chairman of the Melbourne Maritime Trust, Commander Michael Parker.

The money will help build a replica of the topsail schooner Enterprize, which was used by John Pascoe Fawkner to transport the first European settlers from Launceston to Melbourne in 1835.

The funds will enable the trust, which operates the Melbourne Maritime Museum and the barque Polly Woodside, to launch the new Enterprize for fitting out on Foundation Day, August 30, next year.

Mr Kennett said despite the bicentennial celebrations in 1988 focussing on Australia's early settlement, there was still far too little attention paid to the settlement and early development of Melbourne.

He said re-enactment of the Foundation Day voyage in a replica of the original schooner would intensify public interest in Victoria's historical roots and help generate a sense of common purpose and pride among its community.

The Premier said the Enterprize was envisaged to become Victoria's flagship at the year 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.

"The first Enterprize was aptly named for the great venture that it undertook and the development of Melbourne and Victoria which followed it," Mr Kennett said.

"This replica heralds the early development of an enterprise in the traditional craft of shipbuilding which holds significant promise for the future.

"The grant provided today will not only expedite construction, but also ensure we can keep intact the expertise of the small band of shipwrights working on the schooner.

"Once this project is completed, they will form the nucleus of a business which will build and repair timber vessels for private clients and the basis of an educational program to teach others their craft."

Mr Kennett said the Enterprize project, coupled with major adjacent developments along the south bank of the Yarra, would also revive interest and support for the maritime museum.

The museum and the historic Polly Woodside, based at Duke's and Orr's Dock, have had declining visitor numbers in the past couple of years because of the extensive building work in the area and the re-routing of access roads.

However, the Premier said the casino, exhibition centre and other projects at Southbank would open up the river front all the way from Princes Bridge to the maritime museum.

The managing director of Melbourne Maritime Trust and secretary of the Enterprize Committee, Mr Philip Kelly, said thanks to the Government's generosity, the committee would be able to maintain its team of shipwrights and complete the planking of the vessel's hull.

Mr Kelly said it was hoped that by encouraging reflection on Australia's maritime history, the Enterprize would play a principal role in creating wider understanding of Victoria's past and pride in the importance of the original Enterprize's epic voyage.

The project to construct the replica is being supported by donations in kind and funds from the corporate sector and private individuals, and has direct historical links to the settlement of Melbourne.

The Enterprize Committee was set up in 1989 at the suggestion of the owner of Emu Bottom Homestead, Mr Hedley Elliott. His homestead near Sunbury was built by George Evans, one of the original partners in John Fawkner's venture.

And one of the private sponsors, 93 year old Mrs Irene Evans, is the grand-daughter of George Evans.

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MELBOURNE FOUNDATION DAY - 29 Aug 2002

IN A ceremony heralding Melbourne’s 167th birthday celebrations, Lord Mayor John So raised the official flag of the City of Melbourne for the first time and unveiled a memorial plaque marking the occasion of Melbourne's first settlers.

The flag flies atop a new flagpole at Melbourne’s Enterprize Park (named after the schooner of the same name). The park is the site of Melbourne’s first landing party, which was led by Captain Lancey in 1835.
The flag will be on permanent display in Enterprize Park on the Yarra’s northbank opposite Crown casino.

"It is with a sense of history that we recognise the wisdom of the original white settlers in choosing this site for a village," Cr So said.

"Looking around us today, it is difficult to comprehend how much has changed since Melbourne was founded. With this new flagpole and plaque, the people of Melbourne will enjoy a permanent reminder of the foundation of our great city, and all that makes us unique."

The city’s official birthday celebrations are on August 30 at City Square, Swanston St.

A day of fun and festivities around the city is set to become an annual event as a key part of Foundation Day celebrations. And Melburnians will get their chance to join in the day's activities at an open birthday party in the City Square.

"The Melbourne Foundation Day Committee is delighted to be able to help celebrate Melbourne’s 167th Birthday in conjunction with the Melbourne City Council," said Foundation Day committee chairman Campbell Walker.

"The Lord Mayor, the Honourable John So and his fellow councillors have been most supportive of the committee’s activities this year, in jointly recognising the date the first settlers of this great city arrived on the north bank of what’s now called the Yarra, opposite the Old Customs House."

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Flag flies as mark of truth
By ALEN RADOS - 29aug02

A 20m flagpole is part of a permanent monument marking Melbourne Foundation Day, the day Melbourne was settled in 1835.

It is part of a move to end the long-simmering debate about who founded Melbourne.
The monument follows a textbook circulated to secondary schools to give students a better understanding of the birth of Melbourne.

Lord Mayor John So raised the official City of Melbourne flag this month, ahead of the August 30 celebrations.

Two years ago Lord Mayor Peter Costigan raised the flag on a six-metre temporary pole on the same site because the 20m pole was still being made.

It is one of two places the City of Melbourne flag can be seen – the other is atop Melbourne Town Hall.

Since 1994, the council and the Melbourne Foundation Day Committee have been working to close the book on the long-running spat over who founded the city.

On Foundation Day that year a special proclamation was passed acknowledging the day as the occasion of the first white settlement on the Yarra in 1835.

The council has also sought to rectify historical discrepancies in monuments across the city.

A John Batman memorial that stood on the footpath outside the Old Customs House in Flinders St and carried the often-misquoted words "this will be the place for a village" was one of the first to go.

The plaque at Enterprize Park does not mention Batman nor John Pascoe Fawkner, the owner of the schooner Enterprize that sailed up the Yarra with a landing party.

Instead it gives credit to the white settlers who first stepped off the ship with animals and building materials and started to build the first structures and clear land to grow crops.

The landing party included Captain John Lancey, master mariner, the landing party's leader and Fawkner's representative; George Evans, builder; carpenters William Jackson and Robert Hay Marr; ploughman Charles Wise; blacksmith James Gilbert and his pregnant wife, Mary; and Evan Evans, George Evans' servant.

Contrary to popular belief, Fawkner was not one of the first to step ashore. He was not even aboard the Enterprize on that day because creditors made him disembark at George Town in northern Tasmania.

He actually arrived on October 16 – as a passenger on the second visit by the Enterprize.

The pro-Batman argument runs that Foundation Day falls on June 8 – the day in the same year his journal records that famous entry, "this will be the place for a village".

But it is not known if Batman visited the site before or on that date. Records show that he did eventually visit – on November 9.

Batman supporters maintain that he sailed into Port Phillip Bay on May 30 – three months before the Enterprize – and that the nucleus of the permanent population was Batman's holding party that set up camp at Indented Head on the Bellarine Peninsula, and several of whom sailed up the Yarra on June 8.

Batman advocates also say that on June 6 he signed a treaty with a group of Aborigines.

But in September, though the treaty was declared invalid, settlement was allowed to go ahead.

The council and the Foundation Day committee hope the textbook – part of a resource kit exploring Melbourne's wider history and society – will help clear the fog, at least for the next generation of Melburnians.

Produced by the council in conjunction with a team of writing and teaching professionals and the Foundation Day committee, Investigating Melbourne – Society is designed to give the facts and let students draw their own conclusions.

"It has not been produced to re-raise those controversial issues over who founded Melbourne," said Robert Lewis, who helped write and produce the kit.

"It instead aims to arm students with the facts from all sides of the argument. It is the first time the facts have been put side by side in one document so they can be looked at objectively."

Hedley Elliott, of the Foundation Day committee, said debate was over as a true picture of the events 165 years ago are starting to be understood.

"But there still exists a lot of misunderstanding – a lot of popular mythology abounds," he said.

Two of the biggest are that Fawkner was one of the first to step ashore and that Batman stood on the north bank and declared the site would be a place for a village.

Mr Elliott said though they were innocent mistakes there was the fear that the wrong version would snowball into a distortion of history.

"However, although we think the debate is over, the job now is to start getting the right version across," he said.

"It's the best birthday present Melbourne can get," he said.

This is an updated version of an article that first appeared in theHerald Sun on August 29, 2000.

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Melbourne born from voyage of discovery
29aug02

ENTERPRIZE has become the best-known symbol of Melbourne Foundation Day – the day the city was born.

Her keel was laid at the Polly Woodside Maritime Museum in 1991, and she was launched by Felicity Kennett on 30 August, 1997, at Hobsons Bay. The tops'l schooner is a full-sized replica of the ship that brought the first white settlers to Melbourne in 1835.

The original ship was bought by John Pascoe Fawkner in April 1835 to search for a suitable place for a settlement in the Port Phillip District.

Enterprize sailed from Launceston on July 21, 1835, but only got as far as George Town in northern Tasmania, where creditors forced Fawkner to stay.

Enterprize then left on August 1 under the command of Captain Peter Hunter.

On board was Captain John Lancey, master mariner and Fawkner's representative; George Evans, builder; carpenters William Jackson and Robert Marr; Evan Evans, George Evans' servant; and Fawkner's servants, ploughman Charles Wise, general servant Thomas Morgan, blacksmith James Gilbert and his pregnant wife, Mary.

The party first considered Western Port and the eastern side of Port Phillip for a place to settle, before mooring Enterprize on the Yarra's north bank opposite the site of today's Crown casino.

On August 30, they disembarked, starting European settlement of Melbourne.

For further information:

www.enterprize.com.au

www.heraldsun.news.com.au

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History of Enterprize and the Settlement of Melbourne Page 1 of 2
The tops’l schooner Enterprize is a replica of the ship that brought the first settlers to Melbourne. The original ship, built in Hobart in 1829 by William Pender, carried cargo such as coal and, on at least one occasion, over 300 sheep.

In April 1835, John Pascoe Fawkner purchased Enterprize to search for a suitable settlement site in the Port Phillip District. When Fawkner himself was forced to remain behind by creditors, Enterprize departed George Town, Tasmania on 4 August 1835 under Captain Peter Hunter. Also on board were: Captain John Lancey, Master Mariner (Fawkner’s representative); George Evans, builder; William Jackson and Robert Marr, carpenters; Evan Evans, servant to George Evans; and Fawkner’s servants, Charles Wyse, ploughman, Thomas Morgan, general servant, James Gilbert, blacksmith and his pregnant wife, Mary.

Initially a settlement site was sought around Western Port and on the eastern side of Port Phillip. However, on 15 August 1835, Enterprize entered the Yarra River, and after warping upstream (hauling on ropes attached to the river bank), she moored at the foot of the present day William Street. On the 30 August 1835 the settlers disembarked to build their store and clear land to grow vegetables. Settlement at Melbourne had begun.

www.enterprize.com.au

History of Enterprize and the settlement of Melbourne Page 2 of 2
After the settlement voyage, Enterprize continued operating as a coastal trading vessel. She eventually disappeared from the shipping register in 1845, having been wrecked on the bar of the Richmond River in northern New South Wales, with the loss of two lives.

The replica Enterprize was built so that a significant part of Melbourne’s history would be preserved and accessible to the people of Victoria. Planning of the 27 metre vessel began in 1989. Her keel was laid at the Polly Woodside Maritime Museum in 1991 and she was completed in the old Ports and Harbour’s yard at Williamstown. The 2.5 million dollar vessel was launched by Felicity Kennett on Saturday 30 August 1997 at Hobson’s Bay.

Enterprize is the first square rigged commercial sailing ship to be built in Melbourne for over 120 years. The task of bringing the ship through from keel laying to launching involved six years of dedicated work by a small core group of craftsmen assisted by many volunteers.The final result is a great tribute to their enthusiasm and to the generosity of the many people and organisations who contributed money and materials.

Enterprize now gives people of all ages the opportunity to experience life on board a nineteenth century sailing ship.

Web Link: Enterprize Landing Memorial