Explorers\' Monument

The Explorers' Monument is a monument located on The Esplanade in Fremantle, Western Australia. Fremantle (commonly known as Freo is a Port City in Western Australia, located southwest of Perth, the state capital at the mouth of Western Australia is a state occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is approximately six metres high, and consists of a head and shoulders statue of Maitland Brown, sitting on granite pedestals on a granite base inset with plaques honouring three explorers, Frederick Panter, James Harding and William Goldwyer. Maitland Brown ( 17 July 1843 &ndash 8 May 1905) was an explorer, Politician and pastoralist in colonial Frederick Kennedy Panter (1836– 13 November 1864) was a Policeman, pastoralist and explorer in colonial Western Australia James Harding (1838 – 13 November 1864) was a pastoralist and explorer in colonial Western Australia. William Goldwyer (August 1829– 13 November 1864) was a police officer and explorer in colonial Western Australia. The monument was commissioned by C. J. Brockman, and the statue of Brown was sculpted by Pietro Porcelli. Pietro Giacomo Porcelli ( 30 January 1872 – 28 June 1943) was the Italian-born sculptor responsible for many statues in Lady Forrest unveiled the work in February 1913. Lady Forrest ( October 22 1844 – June 13 1929 Picton Bunbury) born Margaret Elvire Hamersley, was the wife of Sir Year 1913 ( MCMXIII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Due to controversy about its presentation of settler/Aboriginal disputes it was altered in the 1990s.

Panter, Harding and Goldwyer were killed by Aboriginal people in 1864, while exploring in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. This is an article about a class of people as identified and defined within Australian law Year 1864 ( MDCCCLXIV) was a Leap year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Leap year The Kimberley is one of the nine Regions of Western Australia. When the men failed to return, Brown was commissioned to lead the La Grange expedition, which searched for the whereabouts of the missing men. The La Grange expedition was a search expedition carried out in the vicinity of La Grange Bay in the Kimberley region of Western Australia in 1865 Brown's search party found the men dead, having been speared to death, two of them evidently in their sleep. Shortly afterwards, a number of Aborigines were killed by Brown's party in a highly controversial incident that was reported by Brown as a battle brought on by an Aboriginal ambush, but which has often since been characterised as a punitive massacre of Aborigines by white settlers.

One of the original plaques on the pedestal reads as follows:

THIS MONUMENT WAS ERECTED BY
C. J. BROCKMAN
as a fellow bush wanderer's tribute to the memory of
PANTER, HARDING and GOLDWYER
earliest explorers after Grey and Gregory of this
"Terra Incognita"',attacked at night by treachorous natives
were murdered at Boole Boola near Le Grange Bay
on the 13 NOVEMBER 1864.
also as an appreciative token of remembrance of
MAITLAND BROWN
one of the pioneer pastoralists and premier politicians of this
state,intrepid leader of the government search and punitive
party. His remains together with the sad relics of the ill
fated three recovered at great risk and danger from lone
wilds repose under a public monument in the East Perth Cemetery
"LEST WE FORGET"

The Aboriginal communities have long held that the Explorer's Monument was a racist work that presented a biased interpretation of the events at La Grange. List of racism-related topics|Racism by country Racism, by its simplest definition is the belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that In 1994, an attempt was made to redress this perceived bias by placing an additional plaque on the monument. Year 1994 ( MCMXCIV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display full 1994 Gregorian calendar) The new plaque commemorates all Aboriginal people who died "during the invasion of their country", and reads as follows:

THIS PLAQUE WAS ERECTED BY PEOPLE WHO FOUND THE MONUMENT BEFORE YOU OFFENSIVE.
THE MONUMENT DESCRIBED THE EVENTS AT La GRANGE FROM ONE PERSPECTIVE ONLY:
THE VIEWPOINT OF THE WHITE 'SETTLERS'
no mention is made of the right of aboriginal people to defend their land or of the
history of provocation which led to the explorers' death.
the 'punitive party' mentioned here ended in the deaths of somewhere around twenty aboriginal people
the whites were well armed and equipped and none of their party was killed or wounded.
this plaque is in memory of the aboriginal people killed at la grange. it also commemorates all
other aboriginal people who died during the invasion of their country
LEST WE FORGET MAPA JARRIYA-NYALAKU

Gallery

Detail

The Explorers' Monument in the 1920s

Amid a stand of trees in 2007.

References

Scates, Bruce (1989). A Monument to Murder: Celebrating the Conquest of Aboriginal Australia in Layman, Lenore and Tom Stannage (eds), Celebrations in Western Australian History (Studies in Western Australian History X), University of Western Australia, Nedlands, Western Australia.

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