Sited at the western end of Glen Huntly Road, at Point Ormond in Elwood, Victoria, is the locale of Victoria’s very first quarantine station dating back to 1840 – not five years since John Batman proclaimed that “This will be the Place for a Village” on the 8th June 1835:
” . . . In looking over an old journal of my Predecessor, Dr Hunt, then stationed at Williamstown, I find that prior to November, 1852, the Quarantine Anchorage was off the Red Bluff, near Brighton, and that the Government Emigrant Ships Manata, Lady Evelyn, and Chance, were detained there in September and October the sick being transferred to a [?] Hospital . . . “
Source: Excerpt – ‘Queenscliff Sentinel, Drysdale, Portarlington and Sorrento Advertiser’ (Vic) – Article “Ye early history of the Quarantine Station, Point Nepean” – published 22nd January 1887
In fact, the suburb Glen Huntly, and the road that connects Point Ormond to this suburb being Glen Huntly Road (previously Typhus Road) – bear the name of the very first ship to arrive in Port Phillip Bay displaying the dreaded yellow flag in 1840 . . .
” . . . The first yellow-flagged ship arriving in Port Phillip was the ” Glen Huntley,” from Greenock, with immigrants, on the 17th April, 1840. Typhus fever had shown itself on the voyage, and out of 157 passengers there were no less than fifty on the sick list . . . “
Source: Excerpt – ‘The Chronicles of Early Melbourne – 1835 to 1851 – Vol II’ – by Garryowen – published 1888
A Barque or Bark
The barque ‘Glen Huntly’ was a 450 ton emigrant ship which left Greenock, Scotland in the December of 1839 under the charge of Captain Buchanan with 157 passengers on board. The voyage would prove to be ill-fated – beginning with a collision with a coaster during the very first night at sea. Hampered by thick fog which encased the English Channel, she then struck a submerged rock, straining her timbers even further. Whilst sailing the North Atlantic, she collided with an American Packet Ship which removed her figurehead and tore away her lower spars. Shortly after crossing the Equator, Typhoid Fever raged through the ship. It was common place for the merchants of the time to overcrowd their ships; provide minimal food, comfort and sanitation for their passengers. As is common place in history, the merchants were more concerned for their profit and those on board. Hence, it was easy for a plague to engulf the weakened physical state of these poor immigrants. Ten passengers died at sea, whilst at least a third of those on board grappled with the disease. When they arrived at Port Phillip on the 17th April 1840 with the yellow plague flag flying, the authorities directed the ship to anchor off the swamp where Elwood now stands.
” . . . Great was the consternation amongst the townspeople on the appearance of so unexpected and unwelcome an importation as a probable pestilence, and no time was lost in arranging for the establishment of a Quarantine Station. The then umbrageous, picturesque territory, now thoroughly civilized and known as St. Kilda, was designated by the Aborigines ” Euro-Yroke ” from a species of sandstone abounding there, by which they shaped and sharpened their stone tomahawks. Its first European appellation was the ” Green Knoll” (the eminence, then much higher, now recognized as the Esplanade), until Superintendent Latrobe named the country St. Kilda in compliment to a dashing little schooner, once a visitor in the Bay. St. Kilda was considered a smart walk from town, and adventurous pedestrians made Sunday trips there in the fine weather. About a mile further, looking out in perpetual watch over Hobson’s Bay, was a point known as the Little Red Bluff, afterwards improved into Point Ormond, and here some four miles from Melbourne, a pleasant enough spot, was organized our first sanitary station, where tents were pitched, and crew and passengers sent ashore. Ample precautions were taken to intercept communication with the interdicted world by land or sea, and Dr. Barry Cotter, Melbourne’s first practising medico, not being too full handed with patients in a small, healthy, youthful community, with a magnanimity that did him credit, volunteered his services to take charge of the newly-formed station. There was a military detachment located there, from which a guard was assigned to protect the encampment on the land side, whilst the revenue-cutter, ” Prince George,” from Sydney, was stationed seaward to shut off communication by boat or otherwise. The Surgeon-Superintendent entered upon his duties with a becoming sense of their importance. By an amusing perversion of terms he styled the place ” Healthy Camp,” and whilst lording it there, issued regular bulletins upon the condition of the invalids and convalescents consigned to his care. Three of the immigrants died there, and were interred near the Bluff. Their lonely graveyard was afterwards enclosed with a rough wooden railing, but has been destroyed by time, and from oversight or culpable neglect has not been replaced, and so their mortal remains have rested in peace, unprotected and undisturbed . . . “
Source: Excerpt – ‘The Chronicles of Early Melbourne – 1835 to 1851 – Vol II’ – by Garryowen – published 1888
The Graves of the Typhus Victims of the ‘Glen Huntly’
On top of those that died at sea, another three men were to succumb to the disease soon after their arrival at Port Phillip. Captain Buchanan, himself, would also fall victim to the Typhus plague, reportedly dying on the return journey and being buried at Cape Town, South Africa . . .
As to the three men who died at Port Phillip, they were buried at Point Ormond. Over time these greatly neglected graves together with the origin of the name ‘Glen Huntly’ were almost lost in time as the sea and erosion advanced upon these lonely reminders of Victoria’s first quarantine station. Their exposed remains were exhumed in 1898 . . .
Evening News (Sydney, NSW) – 19 Apr 1899
” . . . Beyond St. Kilda, near what was once known as “The Little Red Bluff,” moulders the dust of three men buried so long ago as the 21st April, 1840. Their names were—William Armstrong, Samuel Craig, and John James. They were passengers by the ” Glen Huntly” immigrant ship, from Greenock, which arrived in the Bay on the 17th April, and having typhus fever on board, she was quarantined there, and all hands were camped near the beach. The three men were buried close by, and where they lay was enclosed with a wooden railing. The enclosure was preserved with some ordinary regard to decency for several years, but during the last decade, or more, it has been so utterly neglected that at the present time it is difficult to find the whereabouts of the graves. There are four or five old posts stuck in the ground, but in such a manner as not to distinguish the spot from the rest of the bare, weather-beaten plateau. Having, in the course of 1883, heard it stated that the municipal authorities of St. Kilda intended to take some steps to protect and specialize the locality in a befitting manner, and finding, after some time, that the project did not progress beyond the stage of intention, I ventured to communicate with the Town Clerk on the subject. For the courteous consideration accorded to my enquiries I beg to tender my acknowledgments, and as the topic has been lately ventilated in some of the Melbourne newspapers, I would hope that the following letters, addressed to me, may be deemed of sufficient interest to justify their publication :—
Town Clerk’s Office,
Town Hall, St. Kilda,
7th January, 1884.
Sir,—I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter dated the 31st ult., enquiring whether the St. Kilda Borough Council has done anything to enclose and distinguish the spot where three persons were buried at Point Ormond, in 1840.
In reply, I beg to inform you that as yet nothing has been done in the direction indicated. Some two years since the matter was brought under their notice (the Council), and it was intended to enclose the graves, and erect a memorial slab. The matter, however, still rests in abeyance. Within the last six months the Council made application to the Lands Department to have the reserve at Point Ormond placed under their control, with a view to a fence being erected along the cliff, and to plant certain portions, but was not successful.
The Reserve is at present under the control of a Committee of Management, consisting of the Honourable J. G. Dougharty, James Osborn, Samuel Griffiths, H. V. Duigan, and R. E. Jacomb, Esquires.
I have, &c, &c,
JNO. N. BROWNE,
Town Clerk.
“Garryowen,”
Herald Office, Melbourne.
Town Clerk’s Office,
Town Hall, St. Kilda,
16th January, 1884.
To ” Garryowen,”
Herald Office, Melbourne.
Sir,—Referring to my letter of the 7th inst. acknowledging the receipt of yours of the 31st ult. respecting the graves at Point Ormond, I have now the honour by direction of the Council to inform you that it was their intention to expend a sum of money to enclose the graves of the three persons buried at the Red Bluff in 1840, had the ground in question been placed under their control, instead of which the Government placed this reserve under the control of several gentlemen, whose names were indicated in my previous letter. Whether those gentlemen will carry out the Council’s intention in the matter I am unable to state.
I have, &c, &c,
JNO. N. BROWNE,
Town Clerk.
Argus (Melbourne, Vic) – 8 Sep 1921
It seems tolerably evident from the above that the St. Kilda Council has done all that could be reasonably expected to discharge its responsibility in the matter, and whatever blame may arise from a discreditable neglect must be transferred to other shoulders. To expend Borough funds in improving where no public ownership was legally vested, would amount to little short of a misappropriation. When the Government placed the reserve in a special trust, it was no doubt with the view that the Trustees should do something in the way of amendment, and the gentlemen nominated to the position, if they would not rest content with a somewhat inglorious sinecure, should bestir themselves in the public interest, and insist upon being supplied with sufficient funds to do at least what the Council offered. No outlay could possibly replace the Point in its condition in 1840, when the quarantine station was proclaimed there, for never again can it have the picturesquely umbrageous surroundings then so lavishly supplied by Nature. Civilization has not only shorn it of all its pristine attractions, but stripped it as bare as a picked bone. It is now a dreary, desolate, skeletony spot, though by a judicious and not excessive outlay, may be transformed into a most enjoyable and salubrious marine pleasure ground . . . “
Source: Excerpt – ‘The Chronicles of Early Melbourne – 1835 to 1851 – Vol II’ – by Garryowen – published 1888
Monument Remembering the ‘Glen Huntly’
A note by the Editor further explains thus :—” We are informed that the late Councillor Tullett, of St. Kilda, moved in the matter, but died before any definite action could be taken. Councillor Tullett moved that a suitable monument should be erected at the expense of the Council, and inscribed as follows:—’This monument was erected by the Mayor and Councillors of the Borough of St. Kilda, in memory of Armstrong, locksmith ; Craig, weaver; James Matter, cook ; George Denham, all of Scotch nationality. They arrived in this colony in the barque ‘ Glen Huntley,’ which sailed from Obin, Scotland, 28th October, 1839, and thence to Greenwich, where the above deceased embarked, and having been detained there in quarantine for some weeks, sailed thence 13th December, 1839, and after an extraordinary succession of illnesses on board and accidents (once running on a rock, one collision, and once fouling with another ship) arrived, and anchored at the point then known as Point Ormond, now called Red Bluff, 17th April, 1840.’ . . . “
Source: Excerpt – ‘The Chronicles of Early Melbourne – 1835 to 1851 – Vol II’ – by Garryowen – published 1888
Argus (Melbourne, Vic) – 9 Nov 1849
” . . . On the 7th November the “John Thomas Foord,” 790 tons, from Plymouth with immigrants, anchored in the Bay. During the voyage there were several deaths from cholera, and she was ordered into quarantine . . . “
Source: Excerpt – ‘The Chronicles of Early Melbourne – 1835 to 1851 – Vol II’ – by Garryowen – published 1888
Another intriguing story that adds to the history of ‘Red Bluff’ is the story of coal mining in the 1890’s – a venture embarked upon due to the advice of a ‘spirit’ . . .
To read this intriguing article – click here
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