What lies beneath?

While the majority of graves have headstones, there are many places of burial which are all but forgotten. The main examples of these "missing" graves are:

• First Nations people

• Prisoners

• Early burials

The First Nations people of the Goulburn-Mulwaree Shire traditionally never used headstones. Instead they placed the seated body in a circle of earth and covered it with earth or clay; creating a mound. As was to be expected, over the decades and centuries, these burial grounds were built over by the colonists.

• The majority of traditional burial sites were located in the following locations:

  • On the estate of Landsdowne House along Bungonia Road

  • In and around the vicinity of Kenmore Hospital

  • Throughout Mulwaree Plains

  • and in the vicinity of Mount Wayo

A lot of prisoners were buried on the outskirts of cemeteries, typically in unmarked graves.

Many early burials in Australia, while buried in marked graves, made use of wooden headstones. As such, these graves would be lost to time as the headstones deteriorated over the years.