Land was set aside for the Cemetery November 22, 1886
However,
the Cemetery was obviously in use before it was officially gazetted and a
register established as there is a report in the Weekly Times of August 21, 1886 of the death of 22 year old Henry
Manley, whose body had been found in a waterhole near his house at Cannibal
Creek (Garfield). It was surmised that he had fainted, as he had been having
treatment for heart disease, and fallen into the waterhole when he was
collecting water in a billy. The report goes in to say that he was buried in
the ‘new Bunyip Cemetery’ (1).
The first Trustees of the Bunyip Cemetery appointed December 6, 1886.
Apart from the six Trustees listed above the following were amongst the men that acted for various lengths of time as Trustees in the first 20 years - William Pitt, Arthur Gadsby, Enoch Holgate, Michael O’Brien, William Masters, Patrick Heffernan, John Ryan, Daniel Topp, William George Kraft, James Pincott, John Hade, Charles Pearson and Henry Rodger. As far as I know there has not been a woman who has been a Trustee but there have been a number of women who have undertaken the role of Honorary Secretary, including Mrs Sarah Kraft who had the role for 25 years. In June 1914 she was presented with ‘an artistic illuminated address, nicely framed’ to mark the appreciation of her work as Secretary (2).
We
will now have a look at some of the early burials that were reported in the
local papers. Amongst the saddest
burials is that of Alfred Ernest Duncan, who drowned in the Main Drain on June
14, 1901 trying to rescue his sister, nine year old Janet (also referred to as Jane). He was 10 years and 9 months old. They were the children of John and Mary Margaret (nee Grant) Duncan who also had another daughter, Annie. From
reports in various papers we can piece together what happened. The children
attended the Iona State School (then called Bunyip South) and they were going to school and instead of using the school bridge (3) they used a plank
further along the river. Janet fell into the drain and her brother said Janet,
turn on your back and I will save you. Albert immediately plunged in, caught
the girl, held her head above water for some moments but both sank and were
separated (4). Her body was never found. The Inquest of Alfred has been digitised and is available on the Public Records Office of Victoria, website, here. It is very sad reading.
Report of the drowning and the public meeting held to raise money for a memorial
The Argus June 22, 1901 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/10557352
The funeral service was held on Tuesday, June 18. 1901. The children attending the State school marched in front of the hearse to the Bunyip cemetery. The Age reported: The service at the grave was a very touching and impressive one, the clergyman dwelling on the noble action by which young Duncan lost his life (5). The Bunyip community raised money for a memorial to be placed on his grave and this was unveiled in December 1901 (6). The grave, which is in the Presbyterian section, is, sadly, a bit neglected. It has the motto - ‘Greater love has no man than this; that a man lay down his life for his friends’
Alfred Duncan's grave
Image: Heather Arnold
Many
of the early pioneers are buried at Bunyip - Bartholomew Fitzgerald settled on
20 acres in 1892 on the Main Drain at Bunyip South. Bartholomew, his wife
Annie, and their 13 children worked the family farm. Bartholomew died in March
1906. Annie, who died in 1948, is also buried at Bunyip. Joseph Archer, aged 77,
died in August 1908. He had lived at
Garfield for 31 years and is source of the name Archer Road. Honora (or Hanorah) Fallon died in September
1908, she was wife of Michael and mother of ten children. They had settled at
Iona in 1901. Michael, who died in March 1915 is also at Bunyip. The family is
the source of the name Fallon Road (7).
If
you read reports of deaths in old newspapers, then you would know that many
deaths were caused by workplace accidents. In June 1915, 40 year old Joseph
Henderson, who drove a wagon for the Drouin Butter Factory, was struck by a
train at the Garfield Railway Station, whilst transferring milk cans from one
platform to the other. He was ‘badly mangled, one of his legs being severed
from the body’ according to a graphic report in the Bunyip Free Press (8). Joseph was buried at Bunyip.
One
of the more publicised deaths at the time was that of 40 year old Miss Clara
Snell who died June 13, 1914. Clara had been born at Bunyip and died at Nar Nar
Goon. Clara and her sister Anna and brother Thomas were part of the ‘Gippsland
Giants’ who toured the world. The trio were of abnormal size and weight as the South Bourke & Mornington Journal reported, with Clara being 39 stone and over six feet tall. When they
finished touring Clara and Anna operated the Robin Hood Hotel at Drouin. Clara, her parents, Sophia and William, and
other relatives are all buried at Bunyip (9).
If
you visit the Bunyip Cemetery then you would know that is very attractive and
well maintained. It seems that this has always been the case as the Bunyip Free Press from November 11, 1915
had this to say about the cemetery the Bunyip cemetery looks just
"it" now that the plants and bulbs are in full bloom (10).
Footnotes
(1) Weekly Times, August 21 1886, see here.
(2) South Bourke & Mornington Journal, June 18, 1914, see here.
(3) South Bourke & Mornington Journal, December 18, 1901, see here.
(4) Both quotes from The Argus June 22, 1901, see here.
(5) The Age June 19, 1901, see here.
(6) Read a report of the unveiling - South Bourke & Mornington Journal, December 18, 1901, see here.
(7) Some of the information in this paragraph comes from Call of the Bunyip: History of Bunyip, Iona and Tonimbuk 1847-1990 by Denise Nest (Bunyip History Committee, 1990)
(8) Bunyip Free Press, July 1 1915, see here.
(9) Clara Snell's obituary - South Bourke & Mornington Journal, June 18, 1914, see here.
(10) Bunyip Free Press, November 11, 1915, see here.
