Preserving our Past

Sandra Brown hits the road to uncover unique historic Aussie monuments

Words and Images by: SANDRA BROWN V74331

Sacred Heart Cathedral, Bendigo

For the past four years, self-confessed “part-time grey nomad” Sandra Brown has been a volunteer research officer and photographer for the Monument Australia website.

The website lists more than 30,000 public monuments and memorials Australia-wide, including war memorials and honour rolls, disaster plaques, and monuments commemorating exploration, settlement, discoveries, and achievements.

“Like a lot of travellers, I often stop to photograph war memorials, historical sites and other monuments,” says Sandra. “My volunteer role with the website is just an extension of this.”

Sandra, who grew up in rural Victoria and is now based in Melbourne, says monument hunting gave her a focus and sense of purpose when she was on the road. “I mostly travel on my own, so I have plenty of free time to pursue my own interests. But I do like to be doing something productive with that time.”

After retiring in 2012, Sandra began looking for a constructive outlet to channel her energies. “I think I must have inherited a strong Protestant work ethic, because the relaxing travel option just wasn’t doing it for me,” she laughed. “I get too easily bored just sitting around reading and drinking cups of tea when there are places to visit and new things to discover.”

While enthusiastic about her new interest, Sandra acknowledges that not everyone shares her passion. “A couple of times, I’ve taken friends on monument-hunting expeditions with me. But at the end of the day, they told me – quite bluntly – that next time I wanted to go looking for monuments, I could go on my own!”

Ballarat Eureka Diggers Memorial

By sheer chance, Sandra stumbled across the Monument Australia website (monumentaustralia.org.au) while researching a historical site she’d visited.

At that time, the website had only a handful of dedicated volunteers – including a couple of RV and motorbike travellers – working on the huge task of photographing all the listings.

“I had a collection of monument photos that I’d accumulated during my travels, so I submitted a few of them and they were uploaded to the website,” said Sandra.

“I was really chuffed to see my photos being put to good use, rather than just languishing in my computer folders, so I went out one day, took a few more shots around my local area and sent them in as well.”

Sandra at Harold Holt Memorial, Cheviot Beach, Portsea

BENDIGO DISCOVERIES

Soon afterwards, while visiting her mother in Bendigo, Sandra checked the website and found that very few of the Bendigo listings had accompanying photos.

“Bendigo has a rich history and there were lots of listings, so I made it my mission to find as many of them as I could. I had a lot of fun researching and locating the various monuments over the next few weeks and months and, in some cases, years.”

Sandra’s quest took her to parts of the city she’d never been to before. She visited parks and gardens, schools, churches, cemeteries, the local RSL Museum, historical society, and various significant sites.

But one elusive monument – to former Red Cross president Mary Henderson Mackay – proved particularly difficult to find. The long-lost and forgotten sundial memorial had a long and complex history, being originally installed next to the Bendigo Soldiers Memorial Hall in Pall Mall in 1930, before being re-located several decades later to Red Cross House.

Bendigo War Memorial on Anzac Day

It was left behind in the grounds when Red Cross House was sold to La Trobe University, but at some stage was put into a council storage depot, where it was either backed into or run over and damaged by a truck, according to anecdotal reports.

“I made some enquiries about its whereabouts around the same time that Mrs Mackay’s descendants started asking for it to be put back on public display,” says Sandra.

But firstly, the question of legal ownership needed to be clarified. “It was eventually sorted out and, two years after I’d made my initial enquiries at the Red Cross Bendigo Op Shop, I was invited to attend the official unveiling of the restored memorial in the gardens, close to where it was originally located 85 years earlier.”

Yarra Glen Bushfire Memorial

HEADING NORTH: THE VICTIMS’ VOICE

Another of Sandra’s more memorable finds was the sombre memorial to serial killer Ivan Milat’s victims in the Belanglo State Forest, near Berrima in the NSW Southern Highlands. “It took me three attempts to find that one because it was right down the back in a far corner of the forest, wasn’t sign-posted, and the track was pretty rough.”

Her first attempt, in an Avan Ovation motorhome, was terminated by the van’s owner and driver soon after they got off the tar-seal. “In hindsight, it was probably wasn’t the ideal off-road exploration vehicle,” she says.

Some months later, Sandra made a solo attempt in her Ford Focus sedan. “It had been raining earlier that week, and there were a few small puddles along the track, but I was able to drive around them. But then I came to a huge bog-hole that stretched right across the road. I knew I’d be stuck there if I tried to go any further, so that was the end of my adventures that day.”

On her third attempt, Sandra enlisted the aid of a 4WDer friend. “The memorial wasn’t sign-posted and my internet research hadn’t been very location-specific, so we only had a vague idea of where we were going. It was all very hit-and- miss.”

They methodically criss-crossed the maze of forest tracks, stopping to ask directions from bushwalkers, and eventually found the memorial in a far corner of the forest, close to where the bodies of Milat’s seven victims were buried in shallow bush graves.

“It was a lot smaller than I’d imagined. Just a simple plaque on a rock, surrounded by a few flowers. Yet it provided a powerful moment of grim reflection reading the names of the young victims and contemplating the unimaginable horror they had experienced.”

“Each time I drove into the Belanglo State Forest, I felt a pervasive sense of evil.”

Commemorating backpackers at the Belanglo State Forest

RELIGIOUS FINDS

In contrast to the tragic disaster sites she has photographed, Sandra has also developed a specific interest in church memorials. “Churches are like treasure-troves. You never know what you’re going to find inside them.”

“The early Anglican, Methodist and Presbyterian churches often have beautifully ornate honour rolls and stained glass windows, commemorating the men who served in The Great War [WWI].”

Before she sets out on a road trip, Sandra researches her destinations to find out what monuments need to be photographed, then heads out in the field to locate them. “Along the way, I generally come across other memorials that we didn’t even know existed, so of course I photograph them as well and add them to the website.”

Sandra says her volunteer role has taken her to places she would otherwise never have visited and allowed her to meet people she would never have met.

It has also given her an historical perspective, and therefore a deeper understanding, of the towns she has visited. “Scratch the surface and you uncover lots of fascinating stories from the past.”