Name/TitleAlexander Moffat Allan : Old Melbourne Cemetery, c. 1920
About this objectPhotograph of a simple headstone with a triangular top placed over the remains of Alexander Moffat Allan. Over time the stone has leaned about 20 degrees to the right. Long grass is at the foot of the headstone and an iron railing fence is in the background, separating the cemetery from a road.
The inscription on the tombstone is very clearly carved with the name separated from rest of the text by what looks like a mortared join in the stone.
The inscription reads:
SACRED
TO THE MEMORY OF
ALEXr M ALLAN
who was treacherously
speared to death by the
aborigines of this colony
at his station Lodden River
on the morning of the 13th
of March 1842 in the 27th
year of his age
From Selby's Memorial History of Melbourne (p.63): "We are told in the letters of the old pioneers that Allan had a small cattle station in the Loddon district. After being speared by the natives he died quickly ... The natives had intended to kill Allan's brother, who disliked them, but they did not care to do it themselves, and therefore called in three men from another tribe, and arranged with them for the murder. That day Alexander Allan took his brother's place and was murdered by mistake. He had always been friendly to them, and the mistake irritated the natives, and they resolved still to kill his brother, so the brother left the colony."
This image is attributed to Everard Studley Miller who photographed many graves and tombstones in the Old Melbourne Cemetery (established in 1837) in the 1920s as part of a project led by Isaac Selby to record and commemorate all aspects of Melbourne's second cemetery (the first being at Flagstaff Hill). The RHSV holds original glass negatives and albums of the photographs from this project.
One of the many glass slides purchased from retailers or specifically made for illustrated lectures given by Isaac Selby between c. 1930 and c. 1955 to raise money for the Old Pioneers Memorial Fund.
For more information about this image contact Royal Historical Society of Victoria.
MakerMiller, Everard Studley, 1886-1956.
Maker RolePhotographer
Measurements8.2 x 8.2 cm
Period1920-1930
Object TypePhotograph
Subject and Association KeywordsSelby, Isaac, 1859-1956
Subject and Association KeywordsMiller, Everard Studley, 1886-1956.
Subject and Association KeywordsOld Melbourne Cemetery (Melbourne)
Subject and Association KeywordsMonuments and memorials
Subject and Association KeywordsAllan, Alexander Moffat, 1815-1842
Named CollectionImages collection
Object numberGS-TM-11
Copyright LicenceAll rights reserved