Point Ormond Quarantine Station

Posted by Peter O'Brien on Oct 19, 2020

This may be of interest to members - a connection between Glen Huntly and th ecurrent pandemic.

The cairn marks the site of Victoria's first quarantine station which was established in 1840. It was erected as a project to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the State of Victoria.

In 1840 an overcrowded emigrant ship from Scotland called the "Glen Huntly" arrived in Port Phillip. The ship was flying the yellow fever flag, alarming the inhabitants of the small town of Melbourne. Lieutenant Governor Charles La Trobe ordered Victoria`s first quarantine station to be set up at Point Ormond.

The rough canvas town under guard was exposed to bitterly cold and wet weather. Of the original 157 emigrants who had boarded the barque in Argyleshire, ten had already died at sea. The three men who subsequently died at the station were buried on the bluff, which thereby became St Kilda`s first official graveyard. For years the three graves were enclosed by a picket fence before erosion forced the reburial in 1898.

This cairn marks the site of Victoria`s first quarantine station which was established on the 24th April 1840 when the Government emigrant ship "Glen Huntley" arrived in the Port Phillip District flying the yellow quarantine flag. The site became St. Kilda`s first official burial ground and the graves of the early colonists remained here until 1898 when the remains were re-interred in the St. Kilda Cemetery.

Unveiled by the Hon. R. W. Walsh MLA
Member for Albert Park
Minister for Public Works
Assistant Minister for Employment and Industrial Affairs
7th November, 1985

This project was initiated by the Historical Society of St. Kilda and sponsored by the Lions CLub of Elwood for the 150th anniversary of the State of Victoria.