The Springthorpe Memorial is an elaborate Victorian era #memorial located within Boroondara General Cemetery in Kew, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia.. The memorial was built by Melbourne doctor John Springthorpe, in honour of his wife, Annie Springthorpe (née Inglis), who died in 1897 at the age of 30 while giving birth to their fourth child. Construction began in 1897, and the memorial was unveiled in 1901. The Springthorpe Memorial is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register.
The centrepiece of the memorial, commissioned by the grieving Dr Springthorpe, is a marble sculpture by Bertram Mackennal. A figure of the deceased lies on a sarcophagus while an angel, standing beside her, places a wreath (now missing) by her head. A sorrowful, draped female figure sits beside the sarcophagus, clutching a lyre.
Nowhere on the memorial is there any mention of the deceased's name, the most specific reference being the following inscription:
My own true love
Pattern daughter perfect mother and ideal wife
Born on the 26th day of January 1867
Married on the 26th day of January 1887
Buried on the 26th day of January 1897
Springthorpe wanted the structure to stand not just as a memorial for his wife, but also as an expression of the hope in loss for all mankind, and thus Annie's name was not inscribed anywhere on the memorial.
Circling the memorial from the eastern side, looking up at the four gables one reads the words, "Peace Evermore", "Life Evermore", "Light Evermore" and "Love Evermore", which were borrowed from a hymn in Dr. Charles Strong's collection for the Australian Church.
The monument cost a huge amount, although it is uncertain what the final cost amounted to with figures ranging from £4,500 to £8,000-£10,000 bandied about: in today’s currency, somewhere between $700,000 and $1.3M.
#springthorpe #kew #cemetery #heritagelisted #cemeteryexploring #taphophile #taphophileclub #greek #beautiful #fyp #love #dr #drspringthorpe #springthorpememorial #greek #grave
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