Darwin Pioneer Cemetery

Darwin Pioneer Cemetery
Pioneer Cemetery Darwin
Details
Established 1865
Closed 1919
Location Goyder Road, Darwin, Northern Territory
Country Australia
Coordinates -12.436970,130.840600
Number of interments 1,230

Darwin Pioneer Cemetery was the first official cemetery opened in Darwin and was originally known as Palmerston Cemetery[1].The cemetery stands as a testment to the many different cultural groups with different religious affliations that lived in the early years of the city. Opened in 1865 the first burials took place around 1872 or 1873 [2]. The cemetery closed in 1919 however a number of burials were carried out after is closure, these included people that were associated with the pioneering families[3]. Overall about 1,230 burials took place althrough 450 burials were not recorded by Births, Deaths and Marriages[4].

History

In Februrary 1869 George Woodroffe Goyder, the Surveyor General, and a survey team arrived in the Port Darwin to survey the new town of Palmeston (now known as Darwin). One of Goyders tasks was to provide for the first cemetery whihc included 48 acres [5]. Today this is from where Graham Stree in Stuart Park runs to what is now the Stuart Highway running from about Nylander Street[6].

The occupants of the cemetery include a wide range of people from Darwin and include infants and people from many different cultural backgrounds[7]. This reflects the cultural divercits of the town's early history which included Chinese, Japanese and Malay people. Causes of death of the occupants include suicide, stillbirth, drowning and tubuculosis [8]. A school teacher's death was described in the records as "visitation from God"[9]. One of the first occupants is throught to be Charles Harvey, a carpenter, who died on 4 October 1872, other deaths were soon to follow, in November of the same year trooper William Davies was taken by a crocodile of Lameroo beach while swimming [10]. Davies was followed by two miners, Robert McCracken and JW Smith who died in 1873 [11].

The cemetery contains many graves of people that helped establish Darwin. This includes the grave of John George Knight, one of the most senior offcials in the Northern Territory at the time of his death [12]. There is also a momument to Edward (Ned) Tuckwell, buried in 1882, who along with his wife Eliza were involved in the pre-Darwin settlemement at Escape Cliffs. Other promient prioneering families are also buried in the cemetery including Spain, Brown and Bell [13]. Other significant graves include Paul Foelsche and his wife Charlotte, Foelsche let the Northern Territory Mounted Police and was noted as a recorder of Territory history through his writings and photographs [14]. The cemeter'y most impressive headstone in the form of a 1m marble angel belongs to Tom Cruch, the Territory's first Labour member of Parliament in South Australia and whom alond with his wife Fannie (later Haynes) built the Federation Hotel at Brocks Creek[15].

The cemetery also tells the tale of many inhabitants who died tragic deaths. This includes the death of Captain Joe Bradshaw who lost over four hundrent thousand pounds in his venture then died of gangrene in 1916, there was Yusumatsu Tokayama who died two months later, most likly of the bends, while working for a pittance as a diver[16]. Other recorded deaths include that of 18 year old Edith Pater, daughter of Territory's first Judge, who died of an incurable illness[17].

The cemetery became less imporant after the opening of Gardens Cemetery in 1919 after which time it was closed [18].

The Cemetery Today

The cemetery was subject to an inadequate record keeping and documentation because of this many of the occupants are unknown[19]. Overtime grave markers have disappeared. The cemetery also suffered neglect over many years with memorials been dececrated and distroyed, today there are about 90 graves still visible[20]. The cemetery is now fenced to protect what remains and was now managed by the City of Darwin who undertook an upgrade project in 1983, one outcome of which was the installation of a plaque that displays some of the locations of graves and occupants[21]. Other upgrades include a memorial plaque to John Knight in 2003[22]. Ghost tours are now also carried out in the cemetery [23]. Recent controvery has arrisen over rezoning nearby land that nearby residents were converty could distuve unmarked graves [24].


References

  1. ↑ "Darwin Pioneer Cemetery". austcemindex.com. Retrieved 2015-05-01.
  2. ↑ "Darwin Pioneer Cemetery". austcemindex.com. Retrieved 2015-05-01.
  3. ↑ "Darwin Pioneer Cemetery". austcemindex.com. Retrieved 2015-05-01.
  4. ↑ "Darwin Pioneer Cemetery". austcemindex.com. Retrieved 2015-05-01.
  5. ↑ "Pioneer Cemetery | City of Darwin". www.darwin.nt.gov.au. Retrieved 2015-05-01.
  6. ↑ "Pioneer Cemetery | City of Darwin". www.darwin.nt.gov.au. Retrieved 2015-05-01.
  7. ↑ "http://www.australiancemeteries.com/nt/goyderrddata.htm". www.australiancemeteries.com. Retrieved 2015-05-01.
  8. ↑ "http://www.australiancemeteries.com/nt/goyderrddata.htm". www.australiancemeteries.com. Retrieved 2015-05-01.
  9. ↑ "Pioneer Cemetery | City of Darwin". www.darwin.nt.gov.au. Retrieved 2015-05-01.
  10. ↑ "Pioneer Cemetery | City of Darwin". www.darwin.nt.gov.au. Retrieved 2015-05-01.
  11. ↑ "Pioneer Cemetery | City of Darwin". www.darwin.nt.gov.au. Retrieved 2015-05-01.
  12. ↑ "John Knight Memorial". Retrieved 2015-05-01.
  13. ↑ "Pioneer Cemetery | City of Darwin". www.darwin.nt.gov.au. Retrieved 2015-05-01.
  14. ↑ "Pioneer Cemetery | City of Darwin". www.darwin.nt.gov.au. Retrieved 2015-05-01.
  15. ↑ "Pioneer Cemetery | City of Darwin". www.darwin.nt.gov.au. Retrieved 2015-05-01.
  16. ↑ "Pioneer Cemetery | City of Darwin". www.darwin.nt.gov.au. Retrieved 2015-05-01.
  17. ↑ "Pioneer Cemetery | City of Darwin". www.darwin.nt.gov.au. Retrieved 2015-05-01.
  18. ↑ "Pioneer Cemetery | City of Darwin". www.darwin.nt.gov.au. Retrieved 2015-05-01.
  19. ↑ "Darwin Pioneer Cemetery". austcemindex.com. Retrieved 2015-05-01.
  20. ↑ "Darwin Pioneer Cemetery". austcemindex.com. Retrieved 2015-05-01.
  21. ↑ "Darwin Pioneer Cemetery". austcemindex.com. Retrieved 2015-05-01.
  22. ↑ "John Knight Memorial". Retrieved 2015-05-01.
  23. ↑ "Full Moon Darwin Pioneer Cemetery Tour | Australian Heritage Week". heritage-week.govspace.gov.au. Retrieved 2015-05-01.
  24. ↑ "Residents of Parap in Darwin raise concerns about disturbing unmarked graves". Retrieved 2015-05-01.