eHive Object Details

Name/TitleDr. Edmund Hobson and family : Old Melbourne Cemetery, c. 1920

About this objectColourised photograph of a tall Gothic stone structure topped with an urn, mounted on a stepped square pedestal. Within the structure are two tablets leaning backwards towards each other, one for the doctor's details, the other for his family. In the background are more monuments and trees.

Selby describes this memorial, erected by public subscription, as "a thing of Gothic beauty... one of the most striking works of art in the Old Cemetery."

Dr. Edmund Charles Hobson, a natural scientist, was the nephew of Captain Hobson, the first Governor of New South Wales. Dr. Hobson helped found the Melbourne Hospital movement, and was appointed chief-of-staff, but died before he could take up the position. He passed away after a short illness, at his residence, Bona-vista, in South Yarra. (pp. 194-5, OPMHoM)

The inscriptions read: (75 in Selby's grave index p. 377, OPMHoM)

This monument, in memory of Edmund Hobson, M.D., born at Parramatta, August 1814, died at Melbourne 4th March, 1848, has been erected by public subscription in honour of a distinguished fellow colonist, whose pre-eminence in his profession, and whose skill and attention were never solicited by the poor or distressed in vain. He united with rare medical and other attainments dispositions and virtues which endeared him as a man and a Christian to his friends. He died universally regretted in the 34th year of his age.

The other tablet:
John Edmund Hobson, accidently drowned in the Yarra, 1870, aged 30;
Edward Grant Hobson, 1860, aged 17;
Amy Elizabeth Hobson, 1866, aged 21;
Sons and daughters of Edmund Hobson, M.D.
Margaret Hobson died 17th July, 1894, aged 84 years.

This image is attributed to Everard Studley Miller who photographed many graves and tombstones in the Old Melbourne Cemetery (established in 1837) around 1920 as part of a project led by Isaac Selby to record and commemorate all aspects of Melbourne's second cemetery (the first being at Flagstaff Hill). The RHSV holds original glass negatives and albums of the photographs from this project.

One of the many glass slides purchased from retailers or specifically made for illustrated lectures given by Isaac Selby between c. 1930 and c. 1955 to raise money for the Old Pioneers Memorial Fund. Selby numbered this slide #52.

For more information about this image contact Royal Historical Society of Victoria.

MakerMiller, Everard Studley, 1886-1956.

Maker RolePhotographer

Measurements8.2 x 8.2 cm

Period1910-1920

Object TypePhotograph

Subject and Association KeywordsSelby, Isaac, 1859-1956

Subject and Association KeywordsMiller, Everard Studley, 1886-1956.

Subject and Association KeywordsOld Melbourne Cemetery (Melbourne)

Subject and Association KeywordsRoyal Melbourne Hospital

Subject and Association KeywordsHobson, Edmund Charles, 1814-1848

Subject and Association KeywordsMonuments and memorials

Named CollectionImages collection

Object numberGS-TM-29

Copyright LicenceAll rights reserved