Kilnoorat Cemetery
541 Kilnoorat Road,, DARLINGTON VIC 3271 - Property No B3764
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Statement of Significance
What is significant? The Kilnoorat Cemetery began life as the Wooriwyrite homestead cemetery, with the first burial of Duncan McLaurin Oliphant in 1851. It was the earliest cemetery in the district and it served as a burial ground for labourers and their families in the area. In 1865 eight acres of land was officially selected to form the Kilnoorat Cemetery, thus beginning its life as a public cemetery. The first Trustees, Peter MacArthur, Thomas Shaw Jnr, Nicholas Cole and Martin Clune were appointed in 1868. Burials include those of prominent local businessmen and a high number of infant deaths. The small rural cemetery comprises three intact headstones, displaying local techniques in stonemasonry and cast iron work, and a landscape setting. The last burial to take place was that of Thomasina Shaw in 1900.
How is it significant? The Kilnoorat Cemetery is significant for historic and social reasons at a local level.
Why is it significant? The Kilnoorat Cemetery, which was originally a homestead cemetery, was the first burial ground in the Camperdown-Terang-Darlington areas and dates from 1851 to 18900. It is a rare example of a homestead cemetery in Victoria, later to be converted into a public cemetery. The Kilnoorat Cemetery is significant for its historical associations with immigrants, local pioneers who helped develop the Western District and many labourers who worked on nearby farms. Many of those buried at Kilnoorat between 1851 and 1900 were either first or second-generation migrants from Great Britain who had come in search of a better life as labourers, entrepreneurs, farmers or diggers during the 1850s gold rush. The harsh reality of living as an emigrant and building a new life with limited resources in nineteenth century Victoria is evidenced by the fact that many of those buried died young. The cemetery has aesthetic significance for its view as a small cemetery with nineteenth-century tombstones in a landscape setting. Its technical (scientific) significance derives from its potential as an educative archaeological site and for examples of nineteenth-century stonemasonry and cast iron craftsmanship.
Classified: 08/12/2008
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Kilnoorat CemeteryNational Trust
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