The Old Graveyard

Northcote Cemetery was established in May 1861 by 4 local residents when an acre of land was purchased for a grave site.The Shire of Northcote later assumed control of the cemetery in the 1920's and now it is under the jurisdiction of the local council.
There have been approximately 200 burials in the cemetery, it was in regular use up until 1940 and the last burial was in 1971.
The cemetery has since been closed to the general public in an effort to minimise damage to the monuments. That's why I can only take these photos from the fence and couldn't take detail shots of the tombstones, damn!
The cemetery site is situated in the midst of a residential street and shares its borders with the local houses and their yards. Would you like to live next door to a cemetery? I know I wouldn't..
The Burial Records of the cemetery no longer exist but records have been reconstructed using the old recipt books and a plan of the cemetery.
Currently a program covering monument repair, drainage, levelling and landscaping is underway. This work is expected to continue over the next 2 to 3 years. Hopefully they would let people in to visit then!
One notable monument within the cemetery is to Thomas Weatherall, who was buried in 1892, he was the works manager of the Northcote Brickworks. The monument was erected by the shareholders and workers of the brickworks.

This old graveyard is slowly turning into a local heritage parkland worth preserving for its history and for the future communities.