Camperdown Public Cemetery

The first recorded interment was Edmund Baker, an Irish immigrant who died aged 44 from an accident at Koort Koort Nong. James Bonwick noted in 1857 the reserve was in regular use with thirteen tombs in existence.

Formal plans prepared by Surveyor Robert Scott and his Temporary Assistant, Louis W D’Elboux, were submitted in March 1858 and approved by the Governor in Council the following month. Prominent residents, John Manifold, John Walls, Daniel Curdie, Adolphus Clark and TW Cooper were appointed the first trustees.

Scott’s design indicated a formal radial plan of serpentine paths centered around a circular central chapel reserve, with defined burial areas for each denomination in the western half, reserves in the eastern half and areas to be beautified with flowers and shrubs.

A wooden cottage was built for the Sexton in 1874 followed by a substantial timber residence for a by then permanent caretaker in 1899, designed by architect Michael McCabe.

The cemetery reserve was re-surveyed by James Short in 1894 resulting in a slightly altered boundary, removal of the eastern half of the design and of the chapel reserve.

Subsequent changes have included some paths being utilized for grave sites, reserves changed to lawn plots, additional land purchased to the north for more lawn cemetery plots and the sale of the caretaker’s cottage and surrounding land.

Trustees have been replaced by Camperdown Cemetery Trust.

Many fine monuments and tombstones are erected in the cemetery. Of particular historical note is the grey granite obelisk erected in 1885 by pioneer settler James Dawson as a memorial to his aboriginal friends, including Wombeetch Puyuun (‘Camperdown George’).

Burials of significance include

1. James Murdock Aurther (1854 – 1924) – Mounted Police Constable
2. Edmund Baker (1816 – 1854) – First person buried in Camperdown Cemetery
3. Margaret (nee Evans) Bamford (1817 – 1857) – First woman buried in Camperdown Cemetery
4. Dr Daniel Curdie (1810 – 1884) – Pioneer pastoralist, medical practitioner, councillor and naturalist
5. Isabella Park (nee Dawson) Taylor (1842 – 1929) – Friend of the Aborigines, student of their languages and culture
6. James Dawson (1806 – 1900) – Pastoralist, champion of the Aborigines
7. Harold Bertram ‘Joe’ Lamb (1916 – 2004) – Wheelwright, blacksmith and community stalwart
8. Peter McArthur (1819 – 1897) – Pioneer pastoralist, councillor and magistrate
9. John McCabe (1834 – 1912) – Stonemason and plasterer
10. Michael O’Connor McCabe (1866 – 1944) – Stonemason, architect, town clerk
11. Donald McNicol (1812 – 1903) – Shepherd, store owner and pastoralist
12. Duncan McNicol (1807 – 1901) – Shepherd, store owner and farmer
13. McDonald Family
14. Manifold Brothers; John (1812 – 1877) and Peter (1817 – 1885) – The first European settlers to arrive in the Camperdown district along with their brother Thomas.
15. Wombeetch Puyuun (c1818 – 1883) – Last Camperdown Aborigine still living on his ancestral land.
16. James Tait (1809 – 1880) – Early Camperdown storekeeper
17. William Andrew Taylor (1849 – 1927) – Farmer and civic leader. Gifted the World’s oldest statue of Robert Burns to the people of Camperdown
18. Duncan Stewart ‘Dixie’ Walker (1827 – 1889) – Hotelier, grazier and civic leader
19. John Walls (1824 – 1898) Pioneer businessman, councillor and civic leader