Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), Saturday 10 November 1934, page 8


BURIAL HILL TO

FLAGSTAFF GARDENS

THE Flagstaff Gardens, so named in 1840, were previous to that date Burial

Hill. Here the citizens of early Melbourne were wont to meet, walk, and talk over the latest news. Here it was, too, that the settlement's earliest pioneers were

buried.

For many years a tumble-down picket fence, enclosing two dead wattle-trees, surrounded the graves, until, on March 9, 1870, the present obelisk was erected on the spot. The first burial, that of the child of one James Goodman, took place in 1836, and here the remains of John Batman were buried in 1839. All the bodies have since been removed to the Fawkner Cemetery. In these gardens for many years a flag was flown to indicate to the settlers the despatch and delivery of outward-bound and incoming mails. In 1852 the flagstaff, first erected on Sep-tember 14, 1840, was taken down; the present flagpole in the gardens is its top

section.

Much of the gravel used for footpaths in the early days came from pits at Flag-staff Hill. When impending separation from New South Wales was announced in 1850 a salute of guns thundered from the hill, and a huge beacon was fired. From 1858 to 1863 the magnetic observatory,

under Professor Neumayer, was situated, on "The Hill."