LITTLE DAN THE COOK GRAVE
24 FOREST ROAD ORBOST, EAST GIPPSLAND SHIRE
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Statement of Significance
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LITTLE DAN THE COOK GRAVE - History
Little Dan Dempsey, the cook, was killed 1841-45 by Aborigines on the banks of the Snowy River. Local tradition has it that he had caught a young Aboriginal girl and kept her prisoner in his hut for three days. His hut either caught fire or was set on fire, and as he stepped from his hut, he was speared by a group of Aborigines - so many spears that he was unable to fall over. The girl was taken back to the tribe. When word of the killing got out, a party of settlers was organised to hunt down the group, and retribution in the form of a massacre is said to have occurred at the Aboriginal camp at Milly, near the Brodribb River. Some of the surviving boys were captured and brought to Orbost station as station hands.
Heritage Inventory Description
LITTLE DAN THE COOK GRAVE - Heritage Inventory Description
No trace remains of the actual grave, which in times past had been marked with two large stones. The grave is now marked with a large, rough-worked, semicircular sandstone tablet, to which a recent brass plaque has been added. The plaque reads: "Dan The Cook (Dempsey) killed here 1855". The tablet is set in a large neat concrete block measuring 1.5 metres wide by 1.2 metres deep, on a grassy slope on the east side of Forest Road.
The grave is situated on a grassy rise overlooking the Snowy River, on a wide nature strip opposite the old Butter Factory in Orbost, near the corner of Clark and Forest Streets. A :arge gum tree is growing about 5 metres south of the grave. About 16 metres to the north, a brass plaque commemorates the life of mary Gilbert, BEM, through the planting of several trees.
Physical Conditions: Good
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Cairn - East Of Cape Everard Near OrbostNational Trust
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Podocarpus lawrenceiNational Trust
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Catalpa bignonioidesNational Trust
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