Cunningham Obelisk

Allan Cunningham was an avid botanist whose work sent Australian plants across the globe. Cunningham's quest for plants and scientific knowledge drove him to traverse vast tracts of south-eastern and north-western Australia between 1817 and 1828.

Allan Cunningham died in Sydney in 1839 and was buried in the Devonshire Street Cemetery. His friends and admirers erected this obelisk to his memory in 1844. It is one of the earliest public monuments in Sydney. When the Devonshire Street Cemetery was cleared to make way for Central Railway Station, Cunningham's remains were carefully disinterred and reverently place within the obelisk behind the marble plaque.