QUEENBOROUGH CEMETERY

Information gleaned from Tasmanian FHS Records
Copyright Genealogical Society of Tasmania
Hobart Branch 1999

Hobart's early cemeteries

Choice of a suitable burial site for the new settlement of Hobart Town was a priority when Lieutenant Colonel Collins and his party arrived in the
Derwent in 1804. On 29th April of that year Reverend Robert Knopwood records in his diary "At 11 the Lt Governor and self went and marked out a
burial ground at a distance from the campff. The first burial took place there the next day when "Mrs Edwarde 's child" was interred.(14) Reverend Samuel Marsden later consecrated the site as St David's Cemetery and for many years this was the town's principal place of burial.

However as other parish and nonconformist churches were erected in the growing city, most provided adjacent burial grounds. By the late 1860's St David's and many of the other cemeteries had become overcrowded and fallen into a state of disrepair. In 1870 The Mercury stated "perhaps with one exception - the Roman Catholic cemetery - there is not in Hobart Town a burying place to which anyone would willingly consign the remains of a departed relative"(6 )

The Cemeteries Bill first introduced into Parliament in October 1870 by Henry Butler, Minister for Lands and Works, provided for £8000 to be
appropriated for the establishment of a new public cemetery, and the closure of existing parish burial grounds three months after the opening of the new cemetery.(16)

Cornelian Bay was eventually confirmed as the most suitable site and was opened for burials in October 1872.

St George's parish cemetery in Albuera Street had been serving the residents living to the south of Hobart Town, and it's closure meant that the people
of the district were now without a cemetery.(13)

 In November 1872 a number of Queenborough residents met at the Clarendon Hotel to express their concern and it was decided that, in order to protect the inhabitants of Queenborough of the expense and inconvenience of travelling to the public cemetery at Cornelian Bay, a cemetery company would be formed with a capital of £2000 at one pound per share.16

Queenborough Cemetery

Land for the cemetery was part of the blocks that had been granted to Thomas Chaffey after his arrival from Norfolk Island in 1809. His first land grant of 62 acres extended back from the River Derwent from what is now Wrest Point (originally known as Chaffey's Point, later Dunkley's Point); the second grant of 60 acres sloped up behind the first block towards Mount Nelson (see maps). When Thomas's son William Chaffey died in 1872 some 20 acres of this land was acquired by Sandy Bay businessmen James Gregory, Stephen Large and George Luckman and soon after 12 acres were purchased from them by the Company for £280. Later the Company purchased the remaining acres near the Main Road.(15)

The Queenborough Cemetery Company Limited was incorporated 20 June 1873, the original share holders being James Gregory, builder, 100 shares, J D Davidson, butcher, 50 shares, George Cooper, storekeeper, 50 shares, James Robertson, coal merchant, 50 shares and Edward Espie, produce merchant, 20 shares. James Gregory was the first chairman, but George Luckman had taken over by 1878 and remained chairman until 1913. He also became the principal shareholder with 743 shares out of 1500 a capital increase having been authorised in September 1875.(17)

The first burial at Queenborough Cemetery took place on 3 September 1873 when S W Grattidge was interred. Fees were reportedly "much below"
those imposed by the Cornelian Bay trustees and were taken advantage of by relatives of those dying in the southern and south-western part of the city.

The company fell into financial difficulties during the first decade and was forced to sell off the upper land (Mount Nelson slopes) to pay for
maintenance of the grounds and to pay the shareholders.(16 )

The Cemetery was closed for all new burials from 6 September 1913, though remaining open for those with exclusive rights of burial, subject to
permission from the local Chief Health Officer.

In July 1913 Alexander Clark & Son, undertakers, purchased for £100 the upper portion of the land still owned by the Company that had been used for burial purposes (this area is now occupied by The Hutchins School and Churchill Avenue).

A private Bill to enable the sale of the remaining land of about 8 acres fronting onto Sandy Bay Road was introduced into Parliament that year. A Select Committee was appointed to report on this Bill to which some objections had been made by graveholders and by Octavius Lord who owned land in Nelson Road. His concern was that with the closure of the road within the cemetery, funeral traffic would need to use Nelson Road thereby detracting from the value of the property he was subdividing. Although the Select Committee reported favourably on the sale, the Bill appears to have lapsed.

In January 1913 several allegations of malpractice at the cemetery were made, involving inadequate depth of graves for multiple use resulting in some
coffins being discarded and bones being scattered at the time of subsequent burials.(17)

In September 1916 the Hobart City Council bought the land from the Queenborough Cemetery Company for £1515, and the cemetery ground from
undertakers Alexander Clark and Son Ltd for £250. The Queenborough Cemetery Company Ltd was voluntarily wound up in August 1917. Sports
grounds were laid out on the lower portion of the land13, but the upper part remained in use until the cemetery was closed to corpse and coffin burials
on 16 December 1944 by an Act of Parliament, although ashes from cremations could be placed in the cemetery after this date.(4 )

Since closure

The 1944 Act did not specify or authorise use of the cemetery after that date and no reference was made to the length of time which had to pass before improvements could be made to the land. In August 1941 and July 1944 the Public Health Department advised that there was no law to justify the use of cemeteries for other purposes, and before any alternate use, authority must be obtained using the procedure that had been used earlier for St David's Park and Friends' Park cemeteries.(8 )

In August 1944 the Chairman of the HCC Reserves Committee, Alderman Osbome was quoted as saying that, in its present dilapidated condition,
Queenborough Cemetery was little better than a "snake farm". A few months later the HCC Reserves Committee recommended that provision be made in the Consolidating Act for the ultimate conversion of the area into a place of quiet recreation, in the same manner as St David's Park.(4)

Report No 4 (dated 18 Jun 1951) to the HCC from the Reserves Committee

The Reserves Committee reports that on 18th October 1948 the Council made the following decisions with respect to Queenborough Cemetery:

1. That all the information on all the gravestones be recorded (This has been done)

2. That it will remove only those remains which are the subject of a request by a relative or descendant, this to be at the cost of such relative or descendant except in cases where the burial was subsequent to 1927

3. That it will preserve any monument, vault or headstone which has outstanding historical value or architectural merit, or is of unique design

4. That it will consider the request of a relative or descendant that any particular stone should be preserved

5. That it will allow six months notice of its intention to proceed with the development of the cemetery area

6. That it will not prepare apian of development of the area until after the expiration of six months as it will not know until after that date what remains are to be moved and which monuments and headstones are to be preserved.
 

Your Committee recommends that public notice be given of the intention of the Council to exercise the powers conferred on it by Section 321 of The Hobart Corporation Act 1947 so that relatives may arrange/or the removal from the Cemetery of any remains, monuments, vaults or headstones.

By the 1950s the city of Hobart was expanding and interest was shown in the land occupied by the old cemetery. A letter to the HCC from the
Education Department in September 1955 asked if the cemetery site could be bought for the erection of a modem school in the south west region of the city. The department was also interested in purchasing two vacant blocks alongside the cemetery and one at the rear.(4)

In November 1957 the HCC advised relatives that if they wished to arrange for removal of remains for cremation or for re burial in another cemetery,
the work must be completed before 31 January 1958. The names of 265 people whose graves were affected by the proposed new extension of
Churchill Avenue were listed in The Mercury , The Advocate and The North West Post.(2) (NB those listed are indicated in this index).

The advertisements provoked many letters of opposition to the proposal and a Public Meeting was convened by the Lord Mayor, Sir Archibald Park, in March. The following month the Town Clerk advised that the graves affected by the proposed road would be treated as follows:

a) Relatives desiring remains to be removed must provide a grave at Cornelian Bay or similar, or arrange cremation, with Council bearing cost of arrangement, exhumation and transport to Cornelian Bay.

b) Relatives desiring remains to be removed to a more distant cemetery must bear the extra cost.

c) Relatives must bear cost of removal and re-erection of any headstone they desire transferred to another cemetery.

d) All other (affected) remains to be taken by Council to Cornelian Bay and buried in a common grave, or cremated. Names to be recorded in an appropriate manner.(5 )

In The Mercury on 15 September 1960 the Council asked relatives to make application for the permanent preservation of headstones in a "Memorial
Garden" for special monuments of historical interest, or design value, or in memory of any person who had made a significant contribution to the
history or development of the state. Applications closed on 21 October I960.8 The Memorial Garden can be found in Peel Street below the tennis
courts of The Hutchins Senior School. Unfortunately some headstones are incomplete. (Names from the Memorial Garden have been included in this
Index.)

A memo attached to a list of graves affected by the proposed High Level Road states that several pages of the Register of Burial Plots/Removals (AB
317/1) have markings which indicate information may or may not be correct - it is therefore impossible to know the exact number of burials or graves
at Queenborough Cemetery. It was estimated the minimum number was 4318 graves containing 7565 bodies, compared with a maximum of 4417
graves containing 7879 bodies.(2 )

The Council was responsible for a maximum of 1900 exhumations. The cost of further exhumations and removals of monuments was the responsibility
of The Hutchins School. Remains were to be removed whenever buildings were erected - 262 exhumations were completed by May 1963. There were a further 1320 removals later that year, and another 247 in 1964. Exhumations and removals above Churchill Avenue had been completed by June 1963.(8)

In October 1962 the Hobart City Council donated enough iron railing (13' x 8'9" x 3'8") from Queenborough Cemetery to fence the Captain Cook tree at Adventure Bay on Bruny Island.7 In April 1963 approval was given by the HCC for Mr E C McKay, MLC, Secretary of the Cambridge War
Memorial Committee, to obtain enough freestone to erect a Pioneer War Memorial at Cambridge Oval.(7 )

The bronze horse now standing near the Elwick Race Course in the northern suburb ofGlenorchy was one of the more opulent memorials moved from
Queenborough Cemetery. It had been brought out from Italy and erected in memory of Thomas Biggs Clarke who died in 1878 aged 45 years. Clarke, a horse lover and keen huntsman, was a younger brother of Baronet Sir William Clarke of "Quom Hall", Campbell Town.(13 )

In March 1969 a plan was prepared of a proposed memorial monument to be erected to those who were removed from Queenborough Cemetery to
Cornelian Bay Cemetery. An estimated 1300-1400 names were to be engraved on stainless steel mirror-finished plates with 140 names per plate.(8) This Memorial now stands in a specially designated area behind the carpark for the Derwent Chapel at Cornelian Bay. In fact, although the names of some people who are said to have been removed to Cornelian Bay are not included here, over 1500 are listed on the monument and their names have been included in this Index and annotated in the Reference as QMP-CB. (NB Some plaques and names are out of alphabetical sequence on the monument).

The inscription on the Memorial reads:

"Sacred to the memory of those re-interred here
from Queenborough Cemetery in 1963)"

References:

MCC 16/2/2286-7 (EA 20/2-3) Hobart City Council documents relating to Queenborough Cemetery

1. EA 20/2 Queenborough Cemetery Hutchins School Volume I

2. EA 20/2 Queenborough Cemetery Hutchins School Volume II

3. EA 20/2 Queenborough Cemetery Graves and Monuments Various Volume I

4. EA 20/2 Queenborough Cemetery Graves and Monuments Various Volume II

5. EA 20/2 Queenborough Cemetery Graves and Monuments Various Volume III

6. EA 20/2 Queenborough Cemetery Graves and Monuments Various Volume IV

7. EA 20/2 Queenborough Cemetery Graves and Monuments Various Volume V

8. EA 20/2 Queenborough Cemetery Closure

9. EA 20/2 Queenborough Exhumations & Monuments: Tender

10. EA 20/3 Cornelian Bay. Commonwealth War Graves Committee

11. EA 20/3 Cemetery and Crematorium Fees and Charges Volume I

12. EA 20/3 Cemetery and Crematorium Fees and Charges Volume II

Bibliography:

13. GOC, Nicola Sandy Bay - a social history. (1997)

QUEENBOROUGH CEMETERY INDEX REFERENCES

Archives Office of Tasmania References:

AB 317/1 REGISTER OF BURIAL PLOTS IN THE QUEENBOROUGH CEMETERY WITH DETAILS OF BURIALS & REMOVALS 1873-1959

(see sample (Available on microfilm at Archives Office of Tasmania (AOT). This is the register kept originally by the Queenborough Cemetery
page x) Company Ltd and includes plans of cemetery and those in connection with construction of Churchill Avenue. Names only those
interred in same plot, with no extra details. For names of' OTHERS', especially if a different surname, see Research Service on page xvi.
Numbers before denomination (CE, RC etc) in 'Additional Information' column refer to compartment/site/grave/certificate number.

EA 20/2 QUEENBOROUGH CEMETERY RECORDS OF REMOVAL AND CORRESPONDENCE

These folders are part of a series of Hobart City Council documents (AOT Ref: MCC 16/2/2286-7 • see page viii) and subjected to

restricted access ie written permission from HCC is required. (These records are stored at the AOT site at Berriedale and are NOT

available on microfilm.) These records consist of lists, Council memos, letters re removals, plans & correspondence re road, school etc.

NB It should be noted that all numbers in brackets ( ) after AOT References have been added by Hobart Branch GST Inc to

indicate the set of nine folders (1)-(9) and form NO PART of the official AOT Reference.

Any numbers appearing after (1)-(8) refer to sub-sections as divided by pink pages within the folders.

Any numbers appearing after (9) refer to area/row/grave/number at Queenborough Cemetery.

NS 1406/1 REGISTER OF BURIALS IN QUEENBOROUGH CEMETERY

(see pages 5 Mar 1915 -11 Dec 1916 (Indexed) (Available at AOT on microfilm)

xi-xiii) In this period the Queenborough Cemetery was owned by undertakers Alexander Clark & Son Ltd.
All information available from this reference has been included in the Index - see pages xi-xiii.

AB 413 RECORD OF INSCRIPTIONS C1864-1942 ON TOMBSTONES IN QUEENBOROUGH CEMETERY

(see sample (Available at AOT in hard copy [AB 413 - typed]and on microfilm [AB 413/1 - handwritten]).
page xiv) This Reference contains transcriptions of headstones still standing cl963 as transcribed for HCC and included in Tombstone &

Memorial Inscriptions of Tasmania (TAMIOT) by GST Inc (microfiche 1991; 2nd edition due late 1998). Each headstone transcription
is numbered and appears in this Index after the Reference. Extra details may be available - eg birth date and place, parents, siblings, or
other relationships as transcribed from the headstones and which could not be included in this Index due to lack of space. For some
entries, no other details are available than in the Index. See Research Service page xvi.

Other Reference:

QMP-CB Names only are listed on Queenborough Memorial Plaques on monument for removals to Cornelian Bay Cemetery.