Cemeteries

MOUNT DUNEED CEMETERY

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 it was 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.

from Geelong Advertiser 13 January 1864

from Geelong Advertiser 20 February 1864

GROVEDALE LUTHERAN CEMETERY

This cemetery in Church Street Grovedale was once named Germantown Cemetery. It was next to the first church built in Germantown on land donated by Samuel Roehr. It had mud walls and a grass roof. The first church service was on 24 June 1854.  The cemetery is of historical importance for its association with the first German Lutheran settlers who came to Australia in the 1850s. They had been brought to Australia by Dr Alexander Thomson to be employed by him as vine dressers. In 1849 four Prussian families who sailed in the Emmy were Bieske, Baensch, Winter and Kerger. Later families were Andressen, Rossack, Kosseck, Hartwich, Pacholke, Renzow, Heyer, Schultz, Baum, Monn, Jasper, Lorke, Schneider, Herman and Klemke. Many of them occupied one acre properties near Waurn Ponds Creek. A memorial to these settlers was established as a centrepiece to a small rose garden. Many of the old headstones in the cemetery have inscriptions in German. Some of the oldest sandstone memorials have fallen and are in pieces. The first burial was Ann Bieske on 1 January 1855.

Articles:
Andriske, Samuel
   Benari, Albert
   Gogoll, Louisa and Gottlieb
   Handt, Rev John Christian Simon
   Handt, William
   Handt, Henry
   Rau, Augustine Wilhelmine (wife of Julius)
Rau, Julius Heinrich
   Tepper, Theodor

FRESHWATER CREEK LUTHERAN CEMETERY

The Lutheran Cemetery in Anglesea Road Freshwater Creek was established about the same time as the Lutheran Church known as Waldkirck, meaning "the church in the forest". It was a wattle and daub church built in 1859. It was replaced by the present bluestone church, designed by architect Robert Smith Tuffs. The cemetery has historical value as a record of the early settlers in the area. It is listed on the Heritage Register and with the National Trust. This is a rare example of a churchyard cemetery which is still in use. Many of the early inscriptions are in German. The first burial took place in 1860 when eighteen year old Louisa Seiffert died of pneumonia.

The first Germans who came to Geelong settled at Germantown (Grovedale) and Freshwater Creek. Until about the mid 1920s this cemetery was referred to as Puebla Cemetery (probably because it was in the Parish of Puebla).

The first trustees were:
   Carl A Rau
   Gottfried Leibhardt
   Gottfried Schmidt
   Wilhelm Einsport

It was a private cemetery and did not apply for grants or submit annual reports to the government.

The Charles Wilcox memorial to Johan Gotlieb Seiffert, late of Paraparap, born 4 May 1839, died 7 April, 1879. He was 39 years, 11 months and 3 days.

MOUNT MORIAC CEMETERY

from The Argus 24 October 1857

from Geelong Advertiser 9 August 1861

When the Mount Moriac Cemetery was gazetted the name was Duneed (Mount Moriac) Cemetery. As this caused confusion after the Mount Duneed Cemetery was established in 1864, the name was changed soon after to Mount Moriac Cemetery. In 1873 the Geelong Advertiser reported a potato plantation looking very healthy at the cemetery, comparing it to the weeds which luxuriated at the Geelong Eastern Cemetery. In 1882 tenders were called for a 2 room cottage (24 feet by 12 feet) to be built at the cemetery. In 1892 tenders were called for the erection of an additional room to the sexton's house. In 1899 tenders were called for grazing (of shorn sheep only).

According to the Shire of Barrabool Centenary book published in 1965, an ancient headstone of Robert Glew who died in 1861 records the probably that he was the earliest born of any person interred at the cemetery. He was born in 1778.

Articles:
Armistead, Leslie Charles
Armistead, Olive May Louisa (née Larcombe, wife of Leslie Charles)
Batty, Albert James
Batty, Catherine Finlayson (née McKenzie, wife of Albert James Batty)
Buckley, Ann (daughter of Peter)
Buckley, James Peter (son of Peter)
Buckley, Peter
Corrigan, Ann
Corrigan, James (son of Patrick and Ann)
Corrigan, Patrick (husband of Ann)
Coldwell, Eliza Ann (daughter of William)
Coldwell, Isabella (wife of Thomas)
Coldwell, John (son of William)
Coldwell, Maria Isabella Jane (daughter of William)
Coldwell, Mary (daughter in law of Thomas)
Coldwell, Thomas
Coldwell, Thomas (son of Thomas and Isabella)
Coldwell, Thomas Murray (son of William)
Coldwell, William
Crutch, Lydia (wife of William, daughter of Henry Ashton Larcombe)
Crutch, William (husband of Lydia)
Danger, Samuel (son of William and Catherine)
Danger, William and Catherine
Danger, William Robert (son of Samuel)
Doherty, Charles
Doherty, Margaret (wife of Charles)
Ervin, Daniel Edward (son of Nicholas)
Ervin, Elizabeth Margaret (Bessie)
Ervin, John James (son of Nicholas)
Ervin, Margaret Ellen (daughter of Nicholas)
Ervin, Mary Ann (daughter of Nicholas)
Ervin, Nicholas (son of Nicholas)
Ervin, Thomas Joseph (son of Nicholas)
Fletcher, Mary Harriet
Fletcher, Robert Laidlaw (husband of Mary Harriet)
Foster, Rebecca (sister of Mary Naylor)
Glew, Robert (father of Mary Naylor)
Hunt, John Stead
Hunt Mary Ann Isabelle (née Mawson)
Larcombe, Ada Elizabeth Margaret (née Law, wife of Henry)
Larcombe, Celia (née Jeffrey, wife of Henry Ashton Larcombe)
Larcombe, Celia (daughter of Henry Ashton Larcombe)
Larcombe, Doris (née Carmichael, wife of Edgar William Larcombe)
Larcombe, Edgar William (son of William Henry Larcombe)
Larcombe, Edmund (son of Henry Ashton Larcombe)
Larcombe, Eliza Ann (née Cooper, wife of Edmund Larcombe)
Larcombe, Elizabeth (wife of James Larcombe)
Larcombe, Elsie Gladys Victoria (née Bubb, wife of Percy Gilbert)
Larcombe, Emmeline Florence (daughter of William and Louisa)
Larcombe, Henry Ashton
Larcombe, Henry (son of Henry Ashton Larcombe)
Larcombe, Isabella Eliza (daughter of Henry Ashton Larcombe)
Larcombe, James (son of Henry Ashton Larcombe)
Larcombe, John (son of Henry Ashton Larcombe)
Larcombe, Louisa Jane (wife of William)
Larcombe, Mary (daughton of Henry Ashton Larcombe)
Larcombe, Percy Gilbert Edwin (son of William Henry Larcombe)
Larcombe, Phoebe (wife of Thomas Larcombe)
Larcombe, Thomas (son of Henry Ashton Larcombe)
Larcombe, William Henry (son of Henry Ashton)
McLean, Donald
Matthews, Eliza
Naylor, George and Mary
Prowse, John William
Prowse, Mary (wife of John)
Ralph, John and Ann Ethelinda
Read, Emanuel, Adele, Bridget and many children