56 Valleys of Stone
CHAPTER 4
Population expansion in early
Adelaide as reflected in
gravestones and cemetery
monuments, 1836-1865
F. Donald Pate
M
OST COLONISTS who settled the valleys of the western face of the Mount Lofty Ranges in
the first decades of the South Australian colony had little or no access to formal cemeteries
in the vicinity of their townships. During the heritage survey of the Hills Face Zone marked and
unmarked graves were identified on private land and in the graveyards of small local chapels, e.g.
sites at Norton Summit, Montacute and Delabole. At Norton Summit, a small cemetery dating to
1842 (Grassy Flat Cemetery) associated with the remains of a small stone Baptist chapel was located
on land originally purchased by an earlier settler of the village, Robert Norton. However, only one
gravestone dating to 1862 remains at the site. Other small, local cemeteries associated with
Gravestones and cemetery monuments 57
churches were recorded at Montacute (Wesleyan Church, 1862) and at Delabole Hill near Willunga
(Wesleyan Church, 1867). In relation to larger public cemeteries, the Norton Summit Cemetery was
not established until 1882, and the Montacute Cemetery dates to 1903.
Residents of the western face of the Mount Lofty Ranges were generally buried at larger
cemeteries on the plains to the west or in the Adelaide Hills to the east. These cemeteries were
established between 1842 and 1865. Early cemeteries in the plains adjacent to the foothills included
St George’s at Magill (1842), Willunga Wesleyan (1844), McLaren Vale Congregational (1844),
St Matthew’s at Kensington (1848), the Maesbury Street Cemetery at Kensington (1848), St
Stephen’s Anglican at Willunga (1848), McLaren Vale Wesleyan (1849), Saints Phillip and James at
Old Noarlunga (1850), the Mitcham Cemetery (1852), St Saviour’s at Glen Osmond (1854),
McLaren Vale Bethany Pioneer (1854), and Aldinga Wesleyan (1856).
Early cemeteries located just to the east of the study area in the Adelaide Hills included
Coromandel Valley Public (1850), Clarendon Bible Christian (1854), Clarendon Wesleyan (1858),
and Kangarilla Wesleyan (1859). Later cemeteries in this region included Mount Lofty-Uraidla
(1861), Upper Sturt Wesleyan (1861), Stirling District (1879), Clarendon/Kangarilla Public (1865 as
Wesleyan and 1883 as public), and Summertown Public (1884). Furthermore, local cemeteries were
established in a number of the settlements towards the eastern borders of the Adelaide Hills
between 1845 and 1857. These townships included Charleston, Woodside, Inverbrackie, Mount
Barker, Balhannah, Blakiston, and Macclesfield. On the western border of the Adelaide Hills in the
vicinity of the Great Southern Road, cemeteries were established at Happy Valley (Wesleyan: 1843)
and O’Halloran Hill (Anglican: 1849).
CEMETERIES AND PAST SOCIAL SYSTEMS
A range of behaviours associated with past societies can be inferred from analyses of historic
cemeteries. Social status obtained during life is reflected in the treatment of individuals at death, i.e.
social distinctions made in life are reflected in those made at death. Thus, data from cemetery
studies may complement or extend information obtained from standard archaeological methods
concerning past social systems (Brown 1971; Birmingham 1973; King 1978; Rothschild 1979;
Chapman et al. 1981; Bartel 1982; O’Shea 1984; Pate 1984, 2006; Brown 1993; Bell 1994; Meyer
1992; Pearson 1999).
The seminal research by Edwin Dethlefsen and James Deetz had a major impact on the
employment of cemetery studies in historical archaeology (Dethlefsen and Deetz 1966; Deetz 1977;
Deetz and Dethlefsen 1978; Dethlefsen 1981). Subsequent archaeological research involving data
collected from historic cemeteries includes that of Pearson (1982), Clark (1987), McGuire (1988),
Dunn (1988, 1991), Cannon (1989), Fitts (1990), Brumley et al. (1992), Little et al. (1992), Ryan
(1992), Mytum (1994), Jamieson (1995), Zucchi (1997), Rainville (1999), and Small (2002). In
relation to South Australia, both historians and archaeologists have examined mortuary variability
58 Valleys of Stone
in colonial South Australia (Nicol 1987, 1988, 1992, 1994; Denny 1994; Moran 1994; Marin 1999).
The primary purpose of this chapter is to report the results of a chronological survey of
nineteenth century gravestones and monuments (memorials) in historic South Australian
cemeteries in the vicinity of the city of Adelaide, including the Hills Face Zone. As a part of their
‘cultural baggage’, the colonists brought ideas and traditions regarding mortuary practices to their
new homeland. Initial European settlement dates for Adelaide and its various suburbs are
compared with the dates for the oldest surviving gravestones and cemetery monuments in those
areas in order to address the survival of this valuable cultural heritage resource. In addition, a
quantitative analysis is employed to examine the numbers of gravestones and monuments
remaining in the sample for the three decades between 1836 and 1865.
Social distinctions may be recorded in the choice of cemetery used, spatial location of the burial
within the cemetery, interment in large, spatially discrete family plots vs. use of single isolated
burial plots, size and cost of the memorial used to mark the burial location, type of material
employed in the memorial, and inscriptions used on the memorial. As a means to examine some
basic temporal trends in mortuary behaviour in the Adelaide region, observed variations in
materials employed in the production of memorials and the memorial inscriptions used are also
addressed.
THE CEMETERY SAMPLE
The foothills adjacent to the Adelaide Plains and the hills of the Mount Lofty Ranges to the east of
the Adelaide Hills Face Zone are considered to be transition zones for the purposes of this chapter.
Residents of the Hills Face Zone had social relations with inhabitants of these surrounding regions
and many Hills Face residents were buried in the larger cemeteries in these adjacent areas.
Data regarding variability in mortuary treatment were collected via surveys of a large number of
historic cemeteries distributed throughout the Adelaide region. These surveys were conducted
between 1992 and 2006. In relation to the first 30 years of European settlement in the South
Australian colony (1836-1865), the sample included 45 cemeteries and 498 stone memorials from
38 different settlements. All cemetery memorials dating between 1836 and 1865 that were present
within each cemetery were recorded using a standardized recording form. Thus, the sample
represents the surviving cemetery memorials from the period of early European settlement. Sites
stretched from Kapunda located 77 km northeast of Adelaide in the Barossa Valley to Delamere
(Bullaparinga) situated 95 km southwest of Adelaide in the Fleurieu Peninsula. Seventeen of the
cemeteries sampled occurred in the Adelaide Hills, 13 in Adelaide and the surrounding suburbs,
13 in the Fleurieu Peninsula, and two in the Barossa Valley. Some cemeteries such as West Terrace
in the city of Adelaide and the First Angaston were public burial places that represented a range of
religious denominations. Other cemeteries were restricted to individuals belonging to particular
denominations, e.g. Anglican (Church of England), Congregational, Wesleyan Methodist, Primitive
Gravestones and cemetery monuments 59
Methodist, Catholic, and Presbyterian. The Wesleyan Methodist Church was dominant in the
Adelaide Hills region, and many of the cemeteries associated with local churches are attached to
Wesleyan chapels.
A larger sample of 1126 memorials dating from 1840-1889 derived from the same cemeteries
was examined to address temporal changes in the use of different stone types and the employment
of different memorial inscriptions at the top of the stone.
RESULTS
The earliest surviving memorials at individual cemeteries date from 1838 in the West Terrace
Cemetery in Adelaide to 1865 in the Glen Osmond Anglican Cemetery and the Stirling District
Cemetery (Table 4.1). In the Adelaide Hills, the earliest surviving memorials for individual
cemeteries range from 1849 for Inverbrackie to 1865 for Glen Osmond and Stirling. In most cases,
there is only a 1-5 year gap between date of cemetery establishment and date of the earliest
surviving memorial. In five cases the earliest date for the memorial at a cemetery precedes the
official date of the establishment of the cemetery by several years. In contrast, the gap between date
of initial settlement of a region and the date of the earliest surviving memorial is highly variable,
ranging from two years for West Terrace to 25 years for Gawler River and Norton Summit. In the
Adelaide Hills the range is 9-25 years.
There are only 16 surviving memorials in the sample from the first ten years of settlement
(Table 4.2), and 14 of these are located in the large public West Terrace Cemetery. Approximately
31% of all memorials in the total sample of 498 occur in West Terrace, while an additional 24% are
located in the Walkerville Wesleyan Cemetery and the two cemeteries in Willunga (First Wesleyan
and St Stephen’s Anglican), and another 24% are found in the cemeteries at Kensington, North
Road, McLaren Vale, Mitcham, Blakiston, and Brighton. Thus, nearly 80% of the surviving
memorials from the first thirty years of European settlement can be found in nine settlements, and
the remaining 20% are scattered between another 29 settlements. Only 12% of the sample is found
in the cemeteries of the Adelaide Hills, and 24% (15/62) of these memorials are located at the
Blakiston cemetery. Thus, the Blakiston cemetery provides an important database relating to
colonial mortuary practices in the Adelaide Hills. In addition, some larger cemeteries adjacent to
the Adelaide Hills Face Zone, e.g. the Mitcham cemetery and St Matthew’s cemetery in Kensington,
contain burials of settlers from the hills.
Slate is the dominant stone used in memorial production in the 1840s-1860s but nearly
disappears in the 1880s as it is replaced by
marble. Sandstone is a common alternative
(16-17% of sample) in the 1840s and 1850s but
is barely used at all in the 1860s and 1870s and
disappears completely in the 1880s. Granite
Table 4.1
Location of cemetery sites included in the
South Australian sample showing earliest
surviving memorial, initial date of European
settlement in the region, and date cemetery
established.
60 Valleys of Stone
Memorial
Date
Settlement
Date
Date
Established
Adelaide, West Terrace (Public)
McLaren Vale (Congregational)
Willunga (Wesleyan Methodist)
Walkerville (Wesleyan Methodist)
St Mary’s (Anglican)
Kapunda (Methodist)
Inverbrackie (Presbyterian)
Willunga (St Stephen’s Anglican)
Blakiston (St James’ Anglican)
Woodside (Wesleyan Methodist)
Angaston, First Angaston (Public)
Balhannah (St Thomas’ Anglican)
Nailsworth (North Road, Anglican)
Kensington (St Matthew’s Anglican)
Old Noarlunga (Anglican)
Mount Barker (Catholic)
O’Halloran Hill (Anglican)
Aldinga (Wesleyan Methodist)
McLaren Vale (Wesleyan Methodist)
Magill (St George’s Anglican)
Mitcham (Anglican and Public)
Yankalilla (Christ Church, Anglican)
Woodside (St Mark’s Anglican)
McLaren Vale (Bethany Pioneer)
Brighton (St Jude’s Anglican)
Normanville (Wesleyan Methodist)
Coromandel Valley (Public)
Charleston (Wesleyan Methodist)
Mount Barker (Wesleyan Methodist)
Yankalilla (Public)
Uleybury, Gawler (Baptist)
Myponga (Methodist)
North Brighton (Public)
Hindmarsh (Public)
Bullaparinga, Delamere (Public)
Upper Sturt (Wesleyan Methodist)
Happy Valley (Wesleyan Methodist)
Payneham (Primitive Methodist)
Macclesfield (St John’s Anglican)
1838
1845
1846
1847
1848
1848
1849
1849
1849
1849
1849
1851
1851
1851
1852
1853
1853
1853
1853
1854
1854
1854
1855
1855
1856
1856
1857
1857
1858
1858
1859
1859
1859
1860
1860
1861
1861
1861
1861
1836
1839
1839
1838
1842
1843
1838
1839
1840
1840
1842
1839
1839
1840
1840
1838
1838
1839
1840
1838
1840
1842
1840
1840
1838
1839
1837
1840
1838
1840
1839
1842
1838
1837
1842
1837
1839
1839
1840
1837
1844
1844
1849
1846
1847
1849
1848
1846
1851
1847
1845
1853
1848
1850
1848
1849
1856
1849
1842
1852
1851
1851
1854
1854
1839
1850
1852
1856
1854
1851
1858
1843
1846
1858
1861
1843
1864
1857
Norton Summit (Baptist)
Norwood (Congregational)
Gawler River (Methodist)
Aldinga (St Ann’s Anglican)
Glen Osmond (St Saviour’s Anglican)
1862
1862
1864
1864
1865
1837
1840
1839
1839
1841
1842
1856
1854
1864
1854
Stirling District (Public)
1865
1837
1879
Cemetery
123
123
123
123
123
123
The Adelaide Hills
Adelaide and surrounding suburbs
Fleurieu Peninsula
123
123
123
Barossa Valley
Gravestones and cemetery monuments 61
which is common in later years only appears as
1% of the sample in the 1880s.
‘Sacred to the Memory of ’ remains the
dominant inscription at the top of memorials
from the 1840s through the 1870s with ‘In
Memory of ’ serving as a common alternative
with a frequency ranging from 14% in the 1840s
to 32% in the 1870s. In the 1880s there is a
major change in relation to the use of a greater
number of alternative inscriptions on
memorials. ‘Sacred to the Memory of ’ and ‘In
Memory of ’ have relatively equal
representations of 30% and 27%, respectively,
while ‘In Loving Remembrance’ (18%) and ‘In
Loving Memory’ (14%) are also common
alternatives.
DISCUSSION
Preservation of cemetery memorials is a major
limiting factor affecting studies of early colonial
Figure 4.2
Slate gravestone showing loss of entire face
due to cleavage along the natural grain of the
stone, Walkerville Wesleyan Methodist
Cemetery, Adelaide
Photo: F.D. Pate
mortuary behaviour in South Australia. Both
natural and cultural formation processes (Schiffer 1987) are involved. A majority of the early
memorials were made from stone materials that are subject to physical damage and weathering. If
slate memorials are damaged by any type of physical impact, the entire face of the gravestone often
peels off along the natural cleavage line, and all information that was recorded on the memorial is
lost (Figures 4.2-4.3). Sandstone is a very soft material that is subject to weathering induced by wind
and moisture. Many of the sandstone monuments have also lost all information that was recorded
due to extensive weathering of the memorial face (Figure 4.4). In some cases, sandstone memorials
are crumbling to the ground and appear as a pile of eroded blocks below where the stone once
stood. In contrast, the more durable marble memorials show excellent preservation in comparison
to slate and sandstone.
On the basis of the data regarding the restricted temporal distribution of sandstone cemetery
memorials in the Adelaide region (Table 4.3), it
can be argued that sandstone memorials in this
region that have lost information regarding date
of death are associated with the time period of
1836-1860. In contrast the longer temporal
Table 4.2
Location of cemetery sites included in the
South Australian sample showing earliest
surviving memorial date and numbers of
memorials associated with each cemetery for
the first three decades of settlement.
62 Valleys of Stone
Earliest
Date
Cemetery
123
123
123
123
123
123
123
1836-45
Number
Adelaide, West Terrace (Public) 1838
McLaren Vale (Congregational)
1845
Willunga (Wesleyan Methodist)
1846
Walkerville (Wesleyan Methodist) 1847
St Mary’s (Anglican)
1848
Kapunda (Methodist)
1848
Willunga (St Stephen’s Anglican)
1849
Blakiston (St Jame’s Anglican)
1849
Angaston, First Angaston (Public) 1849
Inverbrackie (Public)
1849
Woodside (Uniting)
1849
Kensington (St Matthew’s Anglican) 1851
Nailsworth (North Road, Anglican) 1851
Balhannah (St Thomas’ Anglican)
1851
Old Noarlunga (Anglican)
1852
O’Halloran Hill (Anglican)
1853
Mount Barker (Catholic)
1853
Aldinga (Wesleyan Methodist)
1853
McLaren Vale (Wesleyan/Uniting) 1853
Mitcham (Anglican and Public)
1854
Yankalilla (Christ Church, Anglican) 1854
Magill (St George’s Anglican)
1854
McLaren Vale (Bethany Pioneer)
1855
Woodside (St Mark’s Anglican)
1855
Brighton (St Jude’s Anglican)
1856
Normanville (Wesleyan Methodist) 1856
Charleston (Wesleyan Methodist) 1857
Coromandel Valley (Public)
1857
Mount Barker (Wesleyan Methodist)1858
Yankalilla (Public)
1858
Uleybury (Baptist)
1859
Myponga (Methodist)
1859
North Brighton (Public)
1859
Hindmarsh (Public)
1860
Bullaparinga, Delamere (Public) 1860
Happy Valley (Uniting)
1861
Payneham (Primitive Methodist)
1861
Macclesfield (St John’s Anglican)
1861
Upper Sturt (Wesleyan Methodist) 1861
Norton Summit (Baptist)
1862
Norwood (Congregational)
1862
Gawler River (Methodist)
1864
Aldinga (St Ann’s Anglican)
1864
Glen Osmond (St Saviour’s Anglican)1865
Stirling District (Public)
TOTALS
The Adelaide Hills
1865
Adelaide and surrounding suburbs
1846-55
Number
1856-65
Number
Total
Number
14
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
34
9
7
17
6
2
11
10
2
4
4
9
3
1
3
1
2
1
1
3
1
1
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
10
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
108
5
42
32
6
0
12
5
4
0
0
18
20
0
2
5
3
0
0
16
2
0
3
2
4
7
3
1
6
4
4
3
1
4
1
4
2
1
1
1
2
1
1
1
156
16
49
49
12
2
23
15
6
4
4
27
23
1
5
6
5
1
1
19
3
1
4
3
14
7
3
1
6
4
4
3
1
4
1
4
2
1
1
1
2
1
1
1
0
16
0
134
1
348
123
1
498
Fleurieu Peninsula
123
123
123 Barossa Valley
Gravestones and cemetery monuments 63
Figure 4.3
Slate gravestone showing partial loss of face
due to cleavage along the natural grain of the
stone, Walkerville Wesleyan Methodist
Cemetery, Adelaide.
Photo: F.D. Pate
Figure 4.4
Heavily weathered sandstone monument,
Walkerville Wesleyan Methodist Cemetery,
Adelaide.
Photo: F.D. Pate
-
distribution of slate cemetery memorials indicated by the Adelaide region gravestone sample,
provides a less precise estimate of between 1836 and 1880.
Another major problem is the destruction of entire historic cemetery sites associated with
urban expansion and development. For example, some of the earliest burial grounds in Adelaide
were destroyed when the land was reclaimed for other purposes and all of the memorials were
cleared from the sites (Nicol 1994: 363-364). Examples of cemetery clearance include the old Port
Adelaide burial ground at Alberton, the Bible Christian, Wesleyan Methodist, and St Ninian’s
Anglican cemeteries at Clarendon, the Grassy Flat Cemetery at Norton Summit, the Bible
Christian/Methodist Cemetery at Stirling and the Maesbury Street Cemetery (now Kensington
Pioneer Park) in the eastern suburbs of Adelaide.
The Grassy Flat Cemetery was associated with a small Baptist congregation that assembled at
Robert Norton’s hut in the early 1840s. Today, the site is overgrown with vegetation and only one
displaced gravestone could be located in the deep grass. Two partial walls and associated stone
rubble at the site appear to be the remains of the early 1852 Baptist chapel. The names of thirteen
individuals who were buried at the cemetery between 1842 and 1881 are listed on several plaques,
including a 1988 Bicentennial memorial erected by the East Torrens Historical Society.
64 Valleys of Stone
Figure 4.5
Gravestones that have been removed from the burial site and relocated along one of the
cemetery fences, Hindmarsh Public Cemetery, Adelaide.
Photo: F.D. Pate
The Maesbury Street Cemetery was initially associated with the non-denominational “Village
Church” (1848) and subsequently with the Congregational Church (from 1849). At Maesbury
Street, memorials associated with 445 individuals buried between 1849 and 1864 were cleared to
create the park. The names of these individuals and their dates of death are recorded on a large
monument that has been placed at the rear of the park. Gravestones from the early colonial Bible
Christian/Methodist Cemetery at Stirling that dated from 1865 were relocated to the Stirling
District Cemetery (established 1879).
At other cemeteries, some of the older stones have been removed in relation to recycling of
grave plots for additional burials, and gravestones have been relocated along fences at the
cemeteries. At the St Francis de Sales Catholic cemetery in Mount Barker, gravestones have simply
been stacked along the fence. In contrast, at the Hindmarsh public cemetery in the Adelaide city
area, gravestones have been placed in a cement base lining the fence (Figure 4.5). At the suburban
Cheltenham Cemetery on Port Road (established in 1876), notices have been placed on older stones
indicating that the lease for that plot has expired. If the leases are not renewed, the memorials are
removed from the plots and stacked in the adjacent cemetery storage area. Finally, increased
vandalism associated with urban lifestyles has resulted in the damage or destruction of memorials.
Vandalism has had a major impact on the survival of slate memorials due to their vulnerability to
physical impact. Consequently, the number of cemetery memorials associated with the first 30 years
of European settlement in the Adelaide region has been reduced significantly by these various
Gravestones and cemetery monuments 65
natural and cultural processes. However,
Slate
information regarding mortuary variability and
settlement patterns in early colonial Adelaide can
still be extracted from the surviving cemetery
memorials.
In the cemeteries where older memorials are
preserved (1836-1855), the dates of death
recorded on the oldest memorials occur within
2-10 years after initial settlement of the region in
1840s
1850s
1860s
1870s
1880s
55
47
54
21
1
Marble Sandstone Granite
Number
Percent (%)
27
37
44
78
98
18
16
2
1
0
0
0
0
0
1
22
94
291
359
360
Table 4.3
Materials used in South Australian
gravestone production: 1840s-1880s.
42% of the cases (10 cemeteries out of sample of
24), and are within 11-16 years of settlement in another 14 cemeteries (58% of sample). Seven of
these cemeteries with older surviving memorials occur in the Adelaide Hills. The remaining 21
cemeteries where the oldest stones date between 1856 and 1865 show differences ranging from 1625 years. In relation to the total sample of 44 cemeteries, nearly 23% show a 2-10 year difference
between date of the oldest memorials and initial date of settlement. Thus, in some cases, the earliest
dates of death recorded on cemetery memorials may provide an independent source of information
regarding the timing of settlement of different geographic regions across cultural landscapes.
However, in relation to the sample area of the Adelaide Hills Face Zone Cultural Heritage Project
(the western face of the Mount Lofty Ranges), there is limited evidence of early settlement
associated with gravestones and cemetery
memorials. It appears that many of the early
colonists of the Hills Face Zone were buried in
small private homestead burial grounds, in
small churchyard cemeteries where gravestones
have been cleared, or in larger cemeteries
located in the more populated regions along the
foothills of the adjacent Adelaide plains and in
the hills of the Mount Lofty Ranges to the east.
In relation to early cemeteries located in the
Adelaide Hills Face Zone, gravestones
associated with the Wesleyan Methodist
cemeteries at Montacute (1862) and Delabole
(1867) and St John’s Anglican Cemetery at
Figure 4.6
A marble gravestone that has been damaged
by vandals, Walkerville Wesleyan Methodist
Cemetery, Adelaide
Photo: F.D. Pate
Norton Summit were cleared from the sites.
The Wesleyan chapel building at Montacute is
now a private residence. The surviving historic
Grassy Flat Cemetery at Norton Summit was
66 Valleys of Stone
not established until 1882, over 40 years following the initial European settlement of the region,
and the Montacute Public Cemetery was not opened until 1903.
The appearance of interments in five burial grounds prior to the official establishment of the
cemeteries, would relate to the necessity of disposing the dead in a timely manner following their
expiration. Some of these early burials may also be associated with unmarked graves (Anson 2004).
In these cases, no evidence would remain regarding the location of the burial and the social identity
of the deceased unless written church or cemetery records mentioned them. Cemetery burial
registers provide an important historical source that can supplement studies of gravestones and
The question of unmarked graves. Do we care?
In the 1850s a family settled at Loudon Hill,
north of Tea Tree Gully – a hill still referred
to by locals as ‘The Top of Crawfords’.
Over the next few years they cleared
their land and established an orchard and
market garden in the fertile hills valley and
during this time twenty one children were
born – of which only nine survived! Those
that died were buried on the property,
together with two children who died later in
the nineteenth century.
Pioneer life was harsh for colonists
starting a new life in the Adelaide Hills and
this is just one of several tragic stories told
to the author during the Hills Face Zone
Cultural Heritage Project. Evidence of the
cost to human life and in particular, the lives
of children, can be found in the high number
of unmarked graves throughout the zone –
many of which are outside of registered
cemeteries.
Two further examples of a significant
number of children buried outside of
registered cemeteries were identified at
Montacute and Delabole, both Cornish
mining settlements established in the 1840s.
At this time several small copper mines were
being worked in Pinkerton’s Gully, Montacute
(see the chapter, Farming rocks, this volume).
According to ‘local knowledge’ many of
the unmarked children’s graves in the vicinity
of the former Wesleyan Chapel (now a
private residence) were children who had
been born to Cornish miners. Sunlight
penetrated the steep-sided valley for only a
few hours each day and in winter the one
and two room cottages made from local
stone and clay (without cement mortar)
would have been cold and wet. Many children
of these Cornish families are thought to have
died from pneumonia. The situation at
Delabole was similar. Many infants are also
thought to have been buried here close to
the small slate chapel overlooking the quarry
and village (see the chapter, From Cornwall to
South Australia:The Delabole Quarry and Village,
this volume).
Again, this chapel has been deregistered
and is now a private residence. In this
instance though, a priest from Willunga
officiated at some burials and records are
held by the Willunga Uniting Church. The
Cemeteries Act 1934 (retained in the Local
Government Act and administered by Local
Government bodies) protects only burials
within registered cemeteries. Graves outside
of registered cemeteries are not protected,
except for those of Aboriginal people, which
are protected under the Aboriginal Heritage
Act 1988, South Australia.
A recent Parliamentary Select
Committee recommended that known graves
be listed as encumbrances on the Certificate
of Title, but this had not been resolved at the
time of writing. This also begs the question:
Should such burial sites be protected?
Pam Smith
I thank Leigh and Jan Verrall for
allowing me to visit their property.
Gravestones and cemetery monuments 67
monuments. A range of geophysical methods including ground penetrating radar (GPR) can be
employed to locate unmarked burials or burials where the memorial has been removed. Other early
burials occur in small private burial grounds associated with homesteads.
Finally, the choice of different stone types (slate, marble, sandstone) and inscriptions (e.g.
‘Sacred to the Memory of ’ and ‘In Memory of ’) associated with cemetery memorials provides
information regarding one dimension of variability in colonial mortuary practices that may be
related to the social identities of the deceased. Other variables including size of memorial, style of
memorial, location of memorial in denominational cemeteries or denominational sections of
cemeteries, location of memorial in public cemeteries or public sections of cemeteries, location of
memorial in a family plot, location of memorial relative to other memorials in the cemetery, use of
distinctive symbols, and inclusion of specific information regarding occupation of the dead or
social relationships to the living can also be employed to examine differences in the social status,
wealth, sex, age, marital status, ethnicity, religion, and profession of the deceased. Thus, cemetery
memorials provide a valuable source of historic data that can complement or supplement written
records, oral history and information obtained from archaeological excavations.
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