Camperdown Public Cemetery
Burials have taken place in the Camperdown Public Cemetery since 1854, after being ‘pegged out’ by District Surveyor Robert D Scott in 1853, on instruction from the Surveyor General.
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Trustees have been replaced by Camperdown Cemetery Trust.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’).
Wombeetch Puyuun Grave Monument
In 1882, Aboriginal Guardian, James Dawson travelled to his native Scotland for two years. On his return, he was horrified to find that his friend Wombeetch Puyuun had died the previous year and was buried in an unmarked grave in a boggy, scrubby area of the Camperdown cemetery.
Dawson asked the local European settlers to donate money towards the erection of a monument in memory of the Aboriginal people. When most refused, James was furious. An acquaintance later recalled that James rushed to Melbourne with an account he had written of the early ill treatment of the Aboriginal people by the settlers. He entered the sanctum of Frederick Haddon, editor of The Argus, who refused pointblank to publish it. Dawson insisted and Haddon ordered him from the room, so ‘old Jimmy Dawson went for him with his umbrella!’
In 1885, largely at his own expense, James Dawson erected a monument in the Camperdown Cemetery, in memory of Wombeetch Puyuun and the demise of the local Aboriginal people. He reburied the remains of his friend at the foot of the monument.
The imposing granite obelisk stands at a prominent central site in the Camperdown cemetery. At the top is engraved the year 1840, which marked the beginning of the demise of the local Aboriginal people. Below is a boomerang, a club and a message stick. At the bottom is the year 1883 which saw the last of the local Aboriginal people living on Country with the death of Wombeetch Puyuun.
Taken from the Camperdown and District Historical Society Inc. website
Burials of significance include
- James Murdock Aurther (1854 – 1924) – Mounted Police Constable
- Edmund Baker (1816 – 1854) – First person buried in Camperdown Cemetery
- Margaret (nee Evans) Bamford (1817 – 1857) – First woman buried in Camperdown Cemetery
- Dr Daniel Curdie (1810 – 1884) – Pioneer pastoralist, medical practitioner, councillor and naturalist
- Isabella Park (nee Dawson) Taylor (1842 – 1929) – Friend of the Aborigines, student of their languages and culture
- James Dawson (1806 – 1900) – Pastoralist, champion of the Aborigines Harold
- Bertram ‘Joe’ Lamb (1916 – 2004) – Wheelwright, blacksmith and community stalwart
- Peter McArthur (1819 – 1897) – Pioneer pastoralist, councillor and magistrate
- John McCabe (1834 – 1912) – Stonemason and plasterer
- Michael O’Connor McCabe (1866 – 1944) – Stonemason, architect, town clerk
- Donald McNicol (1812 – 1903) – Shepherd, store owner and pastoralist
- Duncan McNicol (1807 – 1901) – Shepherd, store owner and farmer
- McDonald Family
- Manifold Brothers; John (1812 – 1877) and Peter (1817 – 1885) – The first European settlers to arrive in the Camperdown district along with their brother Thomas.
- Wombeetch Puyuun (c1818 – 1883) – Last Camperdown Aborigine still living on his ancestral land.
- James Tait (1809 – 1880) – Early Camperdown storekeeper
- William Andrew Taylor (1849 – 1927) – Farmer and civic leader. Gifted the World’s oldest statue of Robert Burns to the people of Camperdown
- Duncan Stewart ‘Dixie’ Walker (1827 – 1889) – Hotelier, grazier and civic leader
- John Walls (1824 – 1898) Pioneer businessman, councillor and civic leader
