Stewart McArthur (Corangamite, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yesterday I attended the dedication of a plaque and memorial at the Grovedale Cemetery. This was a very moving occasion, which was organised by the Grovedale Rotary Club. It celebrated the arrival of the immigrant German population to the originally-called Germantown, which is now called Grovedale, in the suburbs of Geelong. Those Lutheran immigrants arrived in 1859, and the cemetery and plaque are dedicated to those early families whose names are recorded on the plaque. This cemetery is close to the main part of Grovedale, and it is a part of the Rotary Club’s activity to bring to the attention of the new generations those early pioneers. I compliment Mr Ron Arthur, community convenor of the Grovedale Rotary Club, who put an enormous amount of time and effort into this particular project: the plaque, the organisation of the day and the recognition of those early families who came to Grovedale who escaped Europe. Like my forebears the Scots, they escaped the political conflict and the poverty. There was a symmetry between the Presbyterians and the Lutherans, and Dr Alexander Thompson looked after the— (Time expired)