The first burial in the Cemetery was in July 1889 of a nine-year-old child. The site had been chosen but not yet declared by the Public Health Department at the time of the child’s interment. However, it is believed the father did not want to have his son buried at the Millers Hill Cemetery and took matters into his own hands. He dug the gravesite, east to west so that the coffin would face the rising sun. Others followed and this is why there is a line of graves running diagonally across the Church of England portion of the Memorial Section of the Cemetery.
A notice was inserted in the Government Gazette on 24 October 1890 announcing the appointment of William Wheeler, Hugh Harris, James Paton, Robert Gordon Kiell and Arnold Playle as Trustees of the Corryong Public Cemetery.
The Trust held their first meeting on 10 February 1891. Hugh Harris was appointed Chairman and Arnold Playle was appointed as Secretary. By this time there had been nine burials and as no fees had been set there were no funds available.
A Government Grant was applied for to fence the area. The ten-acre site was then divided in two. The top three acres was selected for burials. This was then divided into five portions, one each for the following denominations:
Church of England;
Catholic;
Methodist;
Presbyterian; and
The fifth portion for other denominations, or in the case of the death of an unknown stranger.
In the interim, the lower seven acres were to be let for grazing. Following Mr Wheeler's resignation in 1906, he was replaced by Mr Williams.
New regulations, announced in 1913, directed that the Roman Catholic Church, Church of England, Presbyterian and the Methodist Church were to appoint two trustees each to the Cemeteries Trust. The first eight trustees were:
For more information, see the link to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission page.
