eHive Object Details

Name/TitleLanghorne & August families: Old Melbourne Cemetery, c. 1920

About this objectA colourised photograph of a stone, table tomb with round legs or "stone on piles" as described by Selby. Behind this tomb, in the middle distance is the "oblong horizontal stone on a stone base" which lies over the remains of five members of the Langhorne and August families. Both monuments sit in a sea of long grass. More tombs and trees are in the background.

According to Selby, the table tomb just has "E. B. S. 1845" carved into the top, and the inscription on the flat tomb reads: (82 in Selby's grave index p. 378, OPMHoM)
"Elizabeth, wife of William Langhorne, 1841;
Henry August, infant son of Alfred & Sarah;
Sarah, widow of John S. August of Belize, Honduras, 1844, aged 52;
Robert Mastrall, her son, 1845, aged 22 years;
Alfred Langhorne, late of Laverton, 1874, 57 years.
On the stone is the monogram AM. One cannot tell if it refers to the maker of the tomb or the people buried in it."

This monument was relocated to Fawkner Cemetery (Old Pioneers Section, grave 76), and it features on a page of the Altona Laverton Historical Society's website devoted to Alfred and Sarah Langhorne and their homestead. Selby suggested that the deceased were relatives of George Langhorne, who clashed with William Lonsdale over the latter's treatment of Aboriginals. (p.197, OPMHoM)

According to newspaper reports, Alfred Langhorne married Sarah, daughter of the late John S. August of Belize, Honduras, on 25th May, 1841.

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 #53 or #55.

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 KeywordsLanghorne family

Subject and Association KeywordsLanghorne, Alfred, 1817-1874

Subject and Association KeywordsMonuments and memorials

Named CollectionImages collection

Object numberGS-TM-35

Copyright LicenceAll rights reserved