Adam Lindsay Gordon

"Two things stand like stone,

kindness in another's troubles

Courage in your own."

Adam Lindsay Gordon was a writer and poet, born in 1833 and educated in England. As a youth he was apparently reckless and wayward. His parents sent him to South Australia in an attempt to reform him. While there, he did stints as a police officer and a member of Parliament. He later moved to Ballarat and then Melbourne, suffering misfortune along the way. After a series of personal and financial failings, he saw his book Bush Ballads and Galloping Rhymes into print -- a book that would later become one of Australia's most important pieces of literature. The day after the book was published, Adam took a rifle and shot himself.

This memorial stands on the corner of Spring and Macarthur Streets, Melbourne.