Burnt Creek Graveyard Hill, Dunolly

Post

Subscribe

In a very off the beaten track location is this historic cemetery dating back to the gold rush era of 1848. Found behind the current Dunolly Transfer Station, it is difficult to find but worth the effort. Located south of Dunolly, on the Dunolly Transfer Station Road, about 210 metres along the bitumen road, there is a dirt track that forks off to the right.Follow that track along a few more hundred metres until you see the tall white gate posts of the cemetery. Sadly, there is no signage to indicate the historical site and it was just through sheer coincidence of driving along a bush track that I discovered it.[BREAK] [BREAK]

The area, formerly known as Burnt Creek, experienced a gold rush in 1856 and saw upwards of 3000 miners, tradespeople, merchants and their families descend on an area about 3 miles in length or 4.8 kilometres in our modern times. The conditions were harsh for everyone, with very little clean water available and the water that was available was used numerous times for washing clothes and people before being disposed of. Infant and child mortality was quite high due to the unsanitary conditions and it is estimated there are over 50 young infants and children buried within the grounds in or around the Burnt Creek Grave Yard Hill.

[BREAK]

There are approximately over 100 burials located here, but only four impressive headstones remain. Unfortunately, not all the graves are marked as many families simply could not afford a headstone and as a result, there are many graves marked with just a ring of quartz stones.

The current fence line was erected in 1995 by the Dunolly Land Care Group and the Government's L.E.A.P program. It is possible that there are other graves outside of this fenced area as there were no records kept of who was buried where until 1855 when Mr. W. Templeton took it up to record the deaths in the area until 1862 when a Mr. P. Chauncey arrived in the area to survey a new location for the future Dunolly cemetery.



It is a sad but poignant reminder of just how harsh conditions were during the gold rush days and well worth the visit to appreciate the struggles of those who came before us. And who knows, the next time you are wandering through the bush in the goldfields area and come across a circle of stones, it may indicate a gravesite, one just never knows.

#free
#near_bendigo
#unusual_things_to_do
%wnbendigo