Shellharbour Old Sand Cemetery

DESCRIPTION

NameShellharbour Old Sand CemeteryTypeCemeteryGeolocation^[1] Last edited by: Will Chittick

AddressShellharbourDescriptionThe very first cemetery at Shellharbour was located at the foreshore at the Shellharbour Village. The cemetery operated from the very first days of settlement until the opening of the new Shellharbour General Cemetery in 1889.

Europeans were living in the area from at least the 1830s when the cedar industry was booming. Caroline Chisholm brought the first European families to Shellharbour (then Peterborough) to settle on land offered by Robert Towns.

Captain Towns laid out the sections for the denominations in the sand cemetery which was used for many years until the land eventually became eroded from rough seas and many graves were exposed and headstones damaged.

In 1889 the cemetery was resumed. A trust was appointed by the government to resume the site and plan a new cemetery to re-inter the bodies. The old cemetery remained derelict for many years until council developed the site as a public recreation area, Bassett Park.

Local Shellharbour residents read these headstones and their inscriptions for many generations however, the names on the inscriptions were never recorded.

Several bodies were possibly re-interred in the Shellharbour General Cemetery, dedicated in 1895.
There is no known record of the burials in the old sand cemetery at the foreshore, however research gathered over the years from obituaries have left us with a list of some of these early residents.

External LinkDistrict News 1867The Tourist 1872Shellharbour 1888Resumption 1889The Scrap Album 1896Shellharbour Cemetery 1913A Seaside Village, Secluded Shellharbour 1916Desecration of a Cemetery 1923Inspector's Report 1930Shellharbour Cemetery 1934Old Cemetery at Shellharbour 1943Australodities 1950

Place

Shellharbour Beachside Tourist Park

Beachside Tourist Caravan Park

Photograph

Old cemetery site at Shellharbour

Old Sand Cemetery, Shellharbour, c.1900.

CONNECTIONS

CollectionPlacesLocalityShellharbour VillagePlaceBeachside Tourist Caravan ParkRelated ItemBassett Park, Shellharbour Last edited by: Will Chittick

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Shellharbour Old Sand Cemetery