IF ONLY THE DEAD COULD SPEAK: Using cemeteries as a research tool
Cemeteries within Victoria have been regulated by the many Cemeteries Acts since 1850. Research to date has identified over 9000 different burial places and cemeteries within Victoria and the number keeps going.
Cemeteries can invoke many different responses from people; from memories of personal experiences with death and mourning, to possible misguided notions of past rituals and customs or just "fear of the unknown". Family historians have long recognised the value of cemeteries and cemetery records as a valuable tool in researching their ancestors. Social historians are also increasingly finding them valuable in providing a context to wider events in the history of the area; from disasters to epidemics, child mortality, industrial accidents and insights into relationships within a community and the standing of an individual or family within a community, through the monuments erected over their graves.
Major avenues of research for locating graves include examining death certificates, newspaper notices and the burial records held by cemetery trusts, along with records of monumental inscriptions held by local historical societies, family history groups and local councils. Unfortunately over the years not all burial records and cemetery monuments or grave markers have survived, but it is always worth a look when researching the history of an individual, family or community.
David Weatherill is a retired school teacher, principal and university lecturer who has been researching Victorian cemeteries for over 20 years. These interests have included identifying lighthouse cemeteries/gravesites, lone graves, small burial grounds and old forgotten cemeteries, with an emphasis on their history and early burials.
He is a past president of the Genealogical Society of Victoria [GSV], a past member of the National Trust of Australia (Victoria) Cemeteries Advisory Committee and a member of the National Archives of Australia, Melbourne Consultative Forum. For many years he has written a monthly article for the GSV Newsletter and the Australia Cemeteries website on specific cemeteries identified by his research.
He is currently undertaking further research into the Old Melbourne Cemetery, the Warringal (Heidelberg) Cemetery and the Heidelberg Private Cemetery at Hawdon Street.