Cornelian Bay Cemetery

Cornelian Bay Cemetery is a cemetery in Cornelian Bay, Tasmania, Australia. It is the oldest cemetery in Tasmania that remains in use.[1]

Cornelian Bay Cemetery
Cornelian Bay Cemetery with Mt Wellington in the background
Details
Established1872
Location
Cornelian Bay, Tasmania
CountryAustralia
Coordinates42°51′11″S 147°19′9″E
WebsiteOfficial website
Find a GraveCornelian Bay Cemetery

History

The cemetery location, a section of the former Government Farm site, was selected in the late 1860s, amidst concern about risks to health posed by several cemeteries close to the centre of the city of Hobart. These issues led to legislation in 1870 to close those cemeteries three months after a new cemetery could be opened, and funding for the cemetery's establishment was allocated the same year. The cemetery layout was designed by surveyor E. J. Burgess, who won a design competition for the task. It was formally opened by Governor Charles Du Cane on 22 July 1872. As some of the older cemeteries were cleared, the remains of those interred there were reburied at Cornelian Bay.[2][3][4]

A crematorium (the Derwent Chapel) opened in 1935. It was replaced with a new facility (the Wellington Chapel) in 1993.[2]

The cemetery was closed for new burials in 1983 when the Kingston Cemetery opened, but was reopened in 1996, with re-surveying in the 1990s identifying more potential burial plots.[5][6]

Layout and buildings

The cemetery features sections for various Christian denominations, a Jewish section, as well as sections for war graves, a veterans' garden of remembrance, crematorium gardens, and a garden crypts section. The ceremony had a paupers' section with unmarked graves until its closure in 1935; a memorial plaque for those buried there was placed in 1998.[5][7][6][2]

The cemetery features a number of historic buildings, including the former Jewish Receiving House, cemetery superintendent's house, a shelter dating from 1873 and a blacksmith's shop dating from the former Government Farm.[5][8][2]

Management

It was variously managed by the Hobart Cemetery Trust (until 1961), Hobart City Council (1961–1982) and the Southern Regional Cemetery Trust (1982–2008). The cemetery was privatised by the Lennon Labor government in 2008, which leased it to funeral company Millingtons for fifty years. This reportedly followed the former trust running at a deficit in 2006-07.[9][10]

In March 2021, The Mercury reported concerns regarding poor maintenance of graves at the cemetery.[11]

Notable interments

War graves

The cemetery contains 124 Commonwealth war graves of service personnel, 49 from World War I and 75 from World War II; 42 of the graves are in a plot known as the Hobart War Cemetery, the remainder scattered throughout the cemetery.[12] The Commonwealth War Graves Commission also erected a memorial to 18 Australian service personnel – 16 soldiers, one sailor and one airman – who were cremated at the Crematorium in the latter war,[13] as well as the Tasmania Cremation Memorial, to four service personnel whose ashes were scattered elsewhere in Tasmania.[12]

References
  1. "A walk through Tasmanian history at the Cornelian Bay Cemetery". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
  2. "Cornelian Bay Cemetery" (PDF). Tasmanian Ancestry. Tasmanian Family History Society. Retrieved 30 August 2021.
  3. "Cornelian Bay Management Plan". Hobart City Council. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
  4. "Milestone passes quietly at cemetery". The Mercury. 18 October 2002.
  5. "The History of Cornelian Bay Cemetery". Southern Regional Cemetery Trust. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
  6. "Chance to bury grave concerns". The Mercury. 6 October 2011.
  7. "Construction at Hobart Garden of Remembrance". Vetaffairs. June 2007. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
  8. "Cornelian Bay Cemetery Caretakers Residence, Queens Walk, New Town, TAS, Australia". Australian Heritage Database. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
  9. "Funeral costs under review". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 4 June 2008. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
  10. "Cemetery Trust loss". The Mercury. 24 October 2007.
  11. "Mother describes her heartbreak over cemetery's lack of grave maintenance". The Mercury. 14 March 2021.
  12. Hobart (Cornelian Bay) Cemetery CWGC Cemetery record.
  13. Hobart (Cornelian Bay) Crematorium CWGC Cemetery report.
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