Springthorpe Memorial facts for kids
The Springthorpe Memorial is a special monument found in the Boroondara General Cemetery in Kew, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia. It was built during the Victorian era, a time when Queen Victoria ruled.
A doctor from Melbourne, John Springthorpe, had this memorial built. He wanted to honor his wife, Annie Springthorpe, who passed away in 1897. She was only 30 years old and died while giving birth to their fourth child. Building started in 1897, and the memorial was finished and shown to the public in 1901. The Springthorpe Memorial is now listed on the Victorian Heritage Register, which means it's an important historical site.
The main part of the memorial is a beautiful marble sculpture. It was made by an artist named Bertram Mackennal. The sculpture shows Annie lying on a stone coffin, called a sarcophagus. An angel stands next to her. The angel used to place a wreath (a circle of flowers or leaves) by her head, but the wreath is now gone. Another sad-looking female figure sits beside the sarcophagus, holding a musical instrument called a lyre.
The sculptures are inside a building that looks like an ancient Greek temple. This building was designed by a Melbourne architect named Harold Desbrowe-Annear. It has dark marble columns and stone parts called granite pediments and entablatures. These parts are decorated with snake-head gargoyles at each corner. The roof is a stained glass dome. This dome is made from hundreds of ruby-red glass pieces held together by ironwork. When the sun shines through the roof, it makes the sculpture below glow with a reddish light.
The memorial is set in a garden. William Guilfoyle, who was in charge of Melbourne's Royal Botanic Gardens, was asked to design this garden. However, the garden you see today might not look much like his original plan.
The bottom part of the memorial is surrounded by an iron fence. It has red tiles on the ground. These tiles have different poems and sayings written on them in gold letters. There are also writings on the stone parts of the temple, in both English and Greek.
It's interesting that nowhere on the memorial does it say Annie's name. The closest it gets is this special message:
- 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
What Makes the Memorial Special?
The Springthorpe Memorial is built in a classical Greek style. This means it looks like ancient Greek buildings. It also has some features from the Gothic style. The design uses an Ionian order, which focuses on being balanced and perfectly proportioned. These classical ideas are mixed with Gothic elements like the stained glass dome and its square shape.
Dr. Springthorpe was inspired by a writer named John Ruskin. He wanted to create a building that felt real and would last forever. This is why he chose strong materials. These include marble from Carrara, green granite from Labrador, bronze, and cast iron covered in copper. He also used mosaic tiles and glass. Every part of the memorial, from the sculpture to the structure and decorations, has a special meaning. Using so many different materials makes it very interesting to look at.
A Story of Love and Belief
The memorial shows a strong belief in Christianity and a dramatic, perfect idea of love. Dr. Springthorpe deeply wanted to be reunited with his wife, Annie. He found comfort in his Protestant church and in building this memorial. He wanted it to show how much he grieved.
He felt such strong devotion that he needed to build something more solid than a usual memorial. He saw it as more than just a tomb. He wanted it to be a "Real made Ideal" – a perfect example of love for all true lovers. It tells a story of loss, memory, being apart, and reunion. To do this, he wanted a creative, energetic, detailed, and universal representation.
This energy is clear in how much text he used. The memorial is covered with writings from poets he admired, like Whitman, Dante, Rossetti, and Browning. It also includes Dr. Springthorpe's own thoughts. He was very interested in the idea of a "perfect woman." Years before, he had given a speech called 'The Perfect Woman.' In it, he said that Shakespeare's Rosalind was the ideal. Annie seems to be compared to this ideal in the inscription: "Pattern Daughter, Perfect Mother, and Ideal Wife."
