When the cemetery was established in Cemetery Road (now called Williams Road), the nearest cemetery was at Mount Moriac (known as Duneed Cemetery). Peter Mansfield in his book "Barwon Cemeteries" states that the first recorded burial at the cemetery was on 23 October, 1864. According to cemetery records there were some early burials, some before the cemetery was gazetted. After extensive research by the Geelong Family History Group established that the earliest burial was of Charles Tylee who was buried on 2 October 1864. Another early death was John Harkness (1864) who was killed on the main road when his vehicle overturned after striking a heap of road metal. Other early settlers buried here are Agnes Mackenzie (1794-1883), the mother of John Mackenzie of "Ghazeepore" and Deborah Brien (1796-1883). The earliest born was John Ford (1787-1870). Mr. Farraway was the sexton. A live fence of Acacia Paradoxa (South Australian kangaroo wattle) was planted around the cemetery boundary. This was lost in the disastrous fire in February 1891. Wooden railings around the graves were also destroyed and nothing was left but the white marble tombstones that gave a colourless appearance of black and white. Hitching rails were erected either side of the gate. The cemetery has many examples of the work of early monumental masons — Nathaniel Brown, Clement Nash, Charles Wilcox and Joseph Smith. |
Abercrombie, Blanch (daughter of Andrew Thomson and Mary Anna Abercrombie)
Andrews, Eliza (mother of John Burvill)
Armstrong, David, James William and Edward John Harkness (no headstones)
Bell, John Wilson (son of John Calvert and Frances E Bell)
Bell, Mary Kathleen Alexander (daughter of John Calvert and Frances E Bell)
Blyth, Ewing and Agnes
Brien, Annie
Burvill, John and Mary Ann (mother and father of Walter)
Burville, Walter
Challis, Charles Henry
Doherty, John
Dow, Agnes Lamont
Dow, Robert
Fivash, John (sister of Charlotte Melhuish) and Sarah
Ford (née Tansley), Hester (wife of John)
Ford, John
Graham, Arthur Ernest and Charlotte Matilda
Harkness, James and Rebecca (son and daughter-in-law of John and Janet)
Harkness, James and Helen (son and daughter-in-law of James and Rebecca)
Harkness, John and Janet
Hill, Leslie Francis (son of Walter and Jessie)
Hill, Walter Thomas and Jessie Elizabeth
Hillard, Dorothy and George
Hogg, Catherine
Hogg, Hanah
Hollingworth, Hannah and Edmund
Hollingworth, John Allen
Johnston, John and Martha
Johnston, Thomas
Kenyon, Linda May (née Bone), Cyril Gordon and baby
Land, John and Amelia Toogood (née Mitchell)
Lugg, Joseph Paul
Lewis, Harold Clifford (son of William and Ellen)
Lewis, William and Ellen
Melhuish, John Southwood and Elizabeth Fry (née Mitchell)
Melhuish, John Southwood (son of John Southwood) and Charlotte (née Fivash)
Middleton, Jesse Holman and Sarah
Middleton, William Henry and Louisa Harding
Middleton, Albert, Christina and Lillian (children of William and Louisa)
Moon, Rupert Vance
Parker, William and Margaret Helen
Rainford, John, James and Margaret (children of Joseph and Elizabeth)
Rainford, Joseph and Elizabeth
Roulier, Louis and Bridget
Tylee, Charles
Ward, Betsy (Bone, Melhuish, née Kenyon)
Willson, William Hodgkin Grimley