Kangaroo Ground Cemetery

The pioneer Cemetery at Kangaroo Ground is the second oldest in the Yarra Valley – only Warringal at Heidelberg pre-dates it
The Presbyterian Church School opened in April 1851 and a month later, 9 years old Judith Furphy died of a chill. A meeting was held at the schoolhouse to choose the site of a public cemetery. Andrew Ross recorded in his diary, 18 May 1851 reads: ‘First Funeral, Furphy child, I officiate.’

Writing about Kangaroo Ground cemetery in his book ‘Tread Softly you Tread On Dreams’, Mick Woiwod records: “few great monuments have been raised to its pioneers and that today forms part of its burial ground’s charm. Instead, the simple, upright marble-slabs with their old worldly inscriptions speak volumes for the down-to-earth farm folk who settled the district.

Today you can stroll around the reserve and examine the gums. Magnificent white-trunked Manna gums, greener-leaved Peppermint gums and the sturdy Red-box trees with their characteristic round leaves.

Stop at the spring fed waterhole and read the plaque which marks the waterholes where Wurundjeri people camped as recorded by early settlers of the area.

In and around the cemetery are graves of those who served their country in Australia’s wars. The first ‘Grass Cemetery for Ashes’ was established in 1982. And in 2001 the old corrugated iron shed and water tank which for 65 years had stood inside the Kangaroo Ground Cemetery’s main gate was demolished and replaced by a rotunda. A very pleasant meeting place for visitors and mourners.

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