Back to photostream

Elvis Presley Grotto

Though Elvis never visited Australia, there is a memorial in the Melbourne General Cemetery which was placed here even before the one in Memphis. It was commission by President of the Elvis fan club in Melbourne, Wayne Hawthorne: "The fan club secured permission from Elvis’s father, Vernon, to erect the world’s first monument to his son’s death, unveiled by “Australia’s king of rock”, Johnny O’Keefe, on 26 November 1977. It was erected before even the monument in Memphis, Hawthorne says, and Elvis fans flocked to the Melbourne cemetery. (Official estimates) say there were over 400 (people who attended the dedication); Hawthorne remembers there being at least 1,000."

www.theguardian.com/music/2018/aug/18/the-enduring-myster...

 

You can see here that the grotto is even wired to light up at night. However, the fan club did unfortunately misspell Elvis' middle name.

2,262 views
37 faves
24 comments
Uploaded on April 6, 2021
Taken on December 13, 2020