History of the Memorial Park Cemetery
Memorial Park Cemetery, the first consecrated cemetery in Western Australia, is a closed cemetery, formerly a group of denominational cemeteries which date from initial gazettal as a public burial ground in 1840 to closure as a public cemetery styled Memorial Park Cemetery in 1959.
The cemetery, now under the management of the Albany Cemetery Board, is located at Crown Reserve No. 22406 composed of two parts, the Lower Cemetery and the Upper Cemetery, divided by Middleton Road at the north-east entrance to the present day urban core of the City of Albany.
The National Trust of Australia (WA) classified the Memorial Park Cemetery in December 2000 and it was placed on the permanent register of the Heritage Council of WA in 2003 and is also included in the Municipal Heritage Inventory of the City of Albany.
The entire Memorial Park Cemetery presents as a fascinating visitor experience – the setting, the landscape, the grave markings and the memorials commemorating the burials of people over one hundred years of the developing community of a port settlement which began in 1826, became a Town and finally a City and major regional centre.
All the burials in the cemetery are significant from a social history point of view. Others are important for the materials used or for aesthetic appeal of the tombstones and railings. Many of the interest as servicemen, as mariners or as people of high profile in the life of Albany; most are relevant as ordinary people with no claim to notoriety.
The following is a selection only, indicative of the rich social and aesthetic experience which is available to a visitor to Memorial Park Cemetery:
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- Francis Bird |
1845-1937 |
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- Archdeacon Alan Jenkins |
1908-1956 |
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- William Mort |
1888-1947 |
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- Geoffrey Todd |
1929-1947 |
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- Matthew Cull |
1848-1938 |
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- Francis Clifton |
1868-1870 |
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- Anthony Hordern |
1842-1886 |
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- Henry Camfield |
1797-1872 |
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- John Wollaston |
1791-1856 |
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- Patrick Taylor |
1807-1877 |
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- Alexander Collie |
- d 1835 |
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- Sir Alexander Cockburn-Campbell |
1804-1871 |
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- Nellie Mabel Saw |
1890-1919 |
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- Spencer family graves and the adjacent Greek funeral stele intended for the gravesite on Malta of William Spencer (child) - Hassell family group of graves - Sisters of St. Joseph graves - Noongar (Aboriginal) graves - Chinese graves - Pioneer member of the original 1826 board party – d 1827 - Pensioner Guards – recorded burials from 1855-1901 - Convict – recorded burials from 1852-1905 - Australian Commonwealth War Graves |
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Allambie Park Cemetery was Albany's second cemetery, opened in 1954. Allambie Park Crematorium came into service in 1988.