On 24 June each year we remember the life of Adam Lindsay Gordon, cut short on this day in 1870 when his lifeless body was discovered in the coastal scrub at Brighton beach.

One of our members, Nanette, was recently in Melbourne and, while there, paid a visit to Gordon’s grave at the Brighton General Cemetery, where she laid a wreath of wattle (which she personally crafted) in remembrance of the poet. Gordon was buried in a plot owned by his good friend William Trainor who is now also buried there.

Four months later, a monument was erected over his grave due to the efforts of many of his admirers including his close friend Major Thomas Durand Baker (later Sir), John and George Riddoch, Frank Madden, Marcus Clarke, John Shillinglaw, George Gordon McCrae, Alfred Henry Massina, and the Power brothers Robert, Herbert and William (Willie). Major Baker instigated a subscription with the dual purpose of erecting a monument, and making provision for his widow Maggie.

In June 1884 Elizabeth (Eliza) Lauder (nee Bright) wrote to the sexton at Brighton cemetery, enclosing £1 to plant a wattle tree ‘with the beautiful yellow blossoms’, also some snowflakes, on Gordon’s grave. She wrote that she had also sent by train some violets from her own garden. Until 1901, she paid the sexton Joseph Smith to maintain the grave at her own expense, until widowhood and heavy financial losses compelled her to ask for assistance from William Furlong’s wife Minaille (Minnie), secretary and co-founder with her husband of the Australian Literature Society, and president of the Lindsay Gordon Lovers’ Society until her death in 1941. Mrs Lauder’s brother Edward Bright was the ‘Ned’ in Gordon’s well-known poem ‘The Sick Stockrider’.

In 1898 the Furlongs hosted the first of the annual Australian Poets’ Night, along with literary friends, on the anniversary of Gordon’s death, an idea originated by Minnie.

June 1892 was the first recorded pilgrimage to Gordon’s grave, when John Howlett-Ross, following a visit to England, laid a wreath given to him by Mrs Jane Lees (nee Bridges), Gordon’s first love. The ceremony was witnessed by John Whiteman, Mr and Mrs Kelly, and many Melbourne literary figures.

Thereafter, annual pilgrimages were held in June at the gravesite for many years. From 1902, the Australian Literature Society looked after the grave until 1909 when arrangements were made with the Trustees of the Brighton General Cemetery for the proper care and maintenance of the poet’s grave.

From 1 September 1910, when Wattle Day was first celebrated in many states, this also became the first of regular annual pilgrimages to Gordon’s grave when sprigs of wattle were laid. On 1 September 1912 about 2000 people attended the annual pilgrimage. For the ensuing years to at least 1918, thousands attended the annual pilgrimage on 1 September.