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Research in Other Countries => Australia => Australia Lookups completed => Topic started by: Little_Nell57 on Friday 13 May 11 01:02 BST (UK)
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This may seem a silly question, but can anyone tell me if, when a grave is re-used, the original occupant is disinterred, or do they just bury another body on top of them? The reason I ask is that my grandfather's grave in Cunnamulla Qld is one that was re-used. I was only 10 years old when he died, and we lived a long way from Cunnamulla, my parents weren't exactly flush with money so couldn't afford a headstone.
Many years later, I was going to get the money together to have a headstone done, so I wrote to the relevant council to ask the whereabouts of his grave, only to be told that the records from the period of his death did not exist, and that many of the graves had been re-used, typically those unmarked. They did not even have a record of him being buried there, but I know that he was, because I have a photo of his grave that I took myself. We travelled to Cunnamulla after being informed of the death (he had already been buried because the locals didn't realise that he had a family until they found letters from my sister) and most of his possessions had been cleared out of his little shanty home. I am still in possession of a pair of scissors that he had used, and even though they have never been sharpened, they still cut today as well as they did back then. He died on 31 December 1963.
Anyway, if anyone knows what happens when a grave is re-used, I would be most grateful to hear from you.
Narelle
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I have recently discovered my gmothers family grave site at the Cheltenham Cemetery SA via the on line search on the Adelaide Cemetery Authority web site. There is a total of 8 people buried in three different graves (one large plot).The leases on all these graves have expired and are available for redevelopment. I enquired as to how much to renew a lease which was around $4,200.00 each. I am not in a financial position to renew a lease. I then enquired as to what happens if some one else takes up the lease and was advised that the existing remains would be dug up the grave deepened the original remains replaced and the new body would be placed on top. The ACA records would remain the same for the original internees and a new record created for the new one.
Hope this helps.
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I know of graves been reused by family but have never heard of other people taking over the plot unless as you mentioned they have no record and they assumed plot was empty. Seems strange though as he hasnt been buried all that long. Is their anywhere else where you can make more enquiries??
good luck
Susan
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Thank you for your replies, I thought it would be a silly question, but apparently it does happen in some places. It is some comfort to know that my grandfather is still there somewhere. If the town in question was not so remote our family may have been able to do something about a headstone before it was too late. I guess it is fitting that we have no grave for remembrance, since my grandfather's birth was never registered. And to top it off, official records have an incorrect year of death! At least I know when he died because I was old enough to remember.
Narelle
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Narelle, why don't you contact Cunnamulla council again and ask them for their policy?
If you have an exact location for the grave, of course this would help immensely, but I guess that's asking a bit much. Though I suppose unless you can give them an exact location, they won't know whether he is still there, under the newer 'inhabitants'.
Oh, reading your post again, I see you were asking them for the exact location. Problem. I wonder what happened to the records, less than 50 years ago.
Dawn M
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I've just emailed a friend who has a specific interest in Cunnamulla. She might know what happened.
I'll PM you when she replies. But it may take a while as she's often out of town.
Dawn M
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I have quite a few ancestors' graves that have been re-used or "lost" to progress. Admittedly they are old;
1) 1902 Liverpool Cemetery, NSW. Buried in Paupers Section. Told in 1990's it would be covered by crypts, which proved correct during a visit a few years ago.
2) 1836 Hobart. Now a park, however, the actual headstone (with others), adorns the perimeter of the park.
3) 1870 Leichhardt Cemetery. Made into a park 1940's.
4) 1870 Ryde. 2 graves relocated due to road widening in the 1950's. Unfortunatley, I can't find the relocated graves.
That's just to name a few, not to mention the ones I can't find, even though I know they a still buried in a certain cemeteries >:(
Les
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Thanks Dawn M and Les. It would be good if you could get some information from your friend re Cunnamulla, Dawn. I don't think they kept very good records in the 60s.
I have to say that, as a child I didn't think of anything suspicious, but thinking about things now, I have to wonder about his actual death. He was supposed to have died from heat stroke, after sitting out in the hot sun (middle of Australian summer) without a hat on. Now this man had spent his life as a drover, wearing a hat whenever he was outdoors. It does seem a little irregular to me that he would die in this way. His little hut had been cleared of anything valuable (he made leather goods as a means of supplementing his income - very little pensions in those days), but there was no sign of any of that, or even the tools that he used for the purpose. Also his dog was missing and no one could tell us what happened to it.
He had a very sorry life in some ways, as my grandmother left him when my mother was about 18 months old and she told Mum that he had died in the war (WWI). After Mum grew up and her mother had died, Mum was required to find evidence of her father's death to make a claim on an estate in Tasmania. When she contacted the Department of Defence (I guess), they told her that the Francis John McDonald that was killed in the war was not her father. Couldn't have been because he died over 12 months before Mum was born.
That's when Mum found out that her father was still alive, she was 32 years old. She set about trying to find him and when she did she discovered that he had spent all his spare time looking for her, putting ads in papers all over the country, and trying to track her down.
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Narelle,
Coming in late here. Do you have a copy of his death record?.
Does it record the Cunnamulla Cemetery as his burial place?
Sarra
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Hi Narelle
My friend is out of town but has replied "Unless something has changed very recently, Cunnamulla Cemetery burial registers are held at the Paroo Shire Council offices in Cunnamulla."
I"ll PM you her details and what she can look up, charges etc.
Dawn M
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Hi Sarra
Yes I know he was buried in Cunnamulla as we visited his grave just a few days after learning of his death, and I have a photo that I took of the gravesite. Unfortunately at that time we were not in a position to have a headstone done, and with the tyranny of distance, and the lack of funds, the job went undone. I was just a child at the time of his death, and so when I was wanting to get a headstone done, I contacted the council to ascertain the exact whereabouts of his grave only to be told they didn't know, as many of the older graves had been re-used.
Thanks for your PM Dawn. Will follow up on your suggestion.
Narelle
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My grandmother was buried at Cunnamulla in 1963 as well a paupers grave.... I have called Paroo Shire many times to try get a plot number but each time they have another excuse... The last one being that the cemetery had become so overrun with weeds and all markers had to be removed. Bit off there I think about records being well maintained.... Can they not just give me a plot number they should have recorded