Swan Hill Memorial Park

Cemetery Details

Location cnr Coronation Avenue and Wattie Street, Swan Hill, Victoria, Australia
Co‑ordinates S35.35501, E143.55275
Description

Swan Hill Memorial Park was surveyed and commissioned in the 1850’s. The surveyor was Mr Robert McPherson who ironically became the cemetery’s first interment in 1859 with the first trustees not appointed until July 1860.

Up until this time, the village of Swan Hill had no official cemetery, although it is believed that an unofficial site was located north of the Swan Hill City Bowling greens, north east corner of Curlewis and Pritchard Streets.

In the early days the trustees were representatives of the various religious bodies in the district. The first trustees were Duncan Campbell (Presbyterian), Robert Taylor (Presbyterian), Samuel Watson (Church of England), and Benjamin Gummow (Church of England). They had a struggle to eventually find representatives from the Catholics and the Wesleyan’s.

On November 18, 1886 a destructive grass fire ripped through the Cemetery taking all it’s records with it. Even tombstones, constructed of wood were destroyed, leaving the modern secretaries often struggling for information on the past burials of the early days of the cemetery.

The cemetery has had many sextons and trust members come and go over the years. Most often giving their own flavour to the current records. In the early days the Sexton was in charge of everything from record keeping to digging the graves. It was a lowly job, and one often given to someone who was physically strong but not necessarily adapt at record keeping.

Today we are thankful for modern day record keeping and the grave digging machinery available. It certainly makes the job a lot easier.

Swan Hill Cemetery Trust (swanhillcemeterytrust.com.au)

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Names

Showing 4 people of interest from cemetery

HENRY, Tasman John

Service number 2295
Private
4th Machine Gun Battalion
AIF WW1
Born 8 Jun 1892

EARLE, John Oliver

Service number 2995
Trooper
9th Light Horse Regiment
AIF WW1
Born 1 Nov 1892

ARNOLDT, Roy Miller

Service number 21677
Private
3rd Australian Casualty Clearing Station
AIF WW1
Born Jan 1897

BALL, Rufus

Service number VX51225
Corporal
2nd/1st Field Convoy Company
Australian Military Forces (WW2)
Born 23 May 1906

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