Main Entrance is from Melvyn Street, Bordertown, South Australia.
This cemetery is surrounded by Killmer Terrace, Crecoona Terrace and Brown Terrace.
The Bordertown Monumental Section has been in use since 1877 and is the first cemetery used by the Council.
Laid out as a conventional cemetery, it consists of 1,634 grave plots, laid out generally in 12 double rows of plots in four blocks. For various reasons records for the Monumental section are incomplete.
The Bordertown Old (Bronze) Lawn Section received its first interment in January 1978. It consists of 221 plots in 6 double and one single row. No plots remain available in this section with the exception of second interments. Monuments in the section are individually inscribed bronze plaques.
The New Bordertown
Lawn Section has been in use since 1993. It consists of 182 plots in 6 double rows. Each double row is divided by a concrete beam which supports the standard granite sloper (Black or Gree n Granite) and individual flower vases.
The Bordertown Niche Wall was built in 1980 and consists of 120 interment niches.
It is designed to house standard size cremation urns 125mm (wide) x 95mm (high) x 235mm (deep).
HISTORY OF BORDERTOWN
European graziers began settling in the area in the 1840s.
In 1852, Captain Alexander Tolmer surveyed an overland route through the 90 Mile Desert along which gold escorts from the western Victorian goldfields to Port Adelaide could travel. He nominated the states’ border as a suitable place for a depot on the route and suggested the stopping place be named after him.
Tolmer was apparently quite upset when they chose the un-original name Bordertown instead. One of town’s functions was to be a checkpoint between Victoria and South Australia where the Victorian Government could stop the flow of Chinese immigants to its goldfields who were sneaking in through the back door (South Australia). That never happened as the town was built where South Australia believed the border to be, which was 18 km away from where Victoria believed the border to be. The Chinese passed through the town without any trouble as Victorian government officials had no jurisdiction in the town and were powerless to stop them.
In July 1852, 120 allotments were sold (the cost was 50 shillings for a quarter acre block). It continued as a service centre after the goldrush, particularly after the arrival of the railway in 1886.
Thanks to Tatiara District Council for cemetery information.
Sourced and submitted by Julianne T Ryan. 17/11/2014. Lest we forget.
