Donnybrook Cemetery

Donnybrook Cemetery can be found by driving up the Hume Highway from Melbourne to Kalkallo, pass Donnybrook Road on the right, and then turn into Malcolm Street and the cemetery is directly ahead, about 200 metres

On the 10th September 1857 a request was made to the Commissioner of Crown Lands, Victoria for land to be set aside for a proposed cemetery at Donnybrook. Following this request and a favourable response from the Commissioner, a further communication was made on the 18th August, 1859 by the then newly identified Trustees for the proposed cemetery noting that two acres of land for use by each denomination have been set aside, plus a further two acres held in reserve for  “the internment of Strangers”, making a total of 10 acres of land for the cemetery. The cemetery has been known over time as the Donnybrook Cemetery, The Kalkallo Cemetery and on a few occasions, the Mickleham Cemetery. 

The original Trustees appointed were:
· William Wilson  Presbyterian,
· Edward Wright  Methodist,
· George Abbot Snr  Episcopalian, and
· John Trainor  Roman Catholic.
·John Trainor was appointed the Chairman of the group and the Trustees approved by the Governor in Council on the 27th June, 1859. 

With the gazette notices for the appointment of Trustees, information was supplied in regards as to when the cemetery was gazetted.

* VGG 3 November 1876 – cemetery temporarily reserved on the 26th October, 1857.

* CGG 17 September 1880 – cemetery temporarily reserved on the 26th November 1857.

A check on the Victorian Government Gazettes for October  and November 1857 did not note the cemetery being gazetted. Perhaps the cemetery was approved by the Governor in Council and not gazetted or it was “Departmentally set aside” as a number of early cemeteries were.

Over the years the cemetery was used on a regular basis but burials but by 1922 only four burial occurred in that year. The cemetery slowly fell into disrepair with the land being used to graze sheep on to keep the grass down. By 1944 the Department of Health was concerned about the cemetery as the Trust members were now down to two and a request was made to the Shire of Whittlesea in 1956 to take over responsibility of the cemetery. It was also noted that the burial records for the cemetery as well as a plan of burial plots had been lost.

 In  1961 following a request from the General Health Brach new Trustees were appointed to the cemetery.

 In November 1966 a report on the cemetery noted that the condition of the cemetery is “extremely poor and is one of neglect”. It noted one bur1al in 1958, one burial in 1959 and none since 1962. In 1967 seven new Trustees were appointed.

In June 1980 a report was written by Mr A. Joseph on the cemetery, for the Public Health Division. It was noted in the report that:
· fencing was virtually non-existent
· 22 headstones and monuments remained,
· the cemetery reserve is largely overgrown with weeds and shrubs
· there was no official plan of the cemetery and the burial register was noted as being incomplete.

– it noted that “the cemetery is used as a popular drinking area, a site for the illegal slaughtering of sheep and for dumping rubbish.”
· a recommendation was made to approach the Shire of Whittlesea to see if they would take over the Trustee role or to have the cemetery closed.

 The Shire of Whittlesea noted that it was their policy to promote local responsibility for cemeteries and called a public meeting to deal with this. From this meeting held on the 11th August 1980 a new Donnybrook Cemetery Trust consisting of five members was set up. 

The records identify a number of burials at the cemetery, with the following being a brief example from these records.:
· ZINNOW, Robert: accidentally killed on the railway on the 2nd October, 1888, aged 40 years.  [The headstone was erected by his friends and fellow workmen]
· JEX, Mahalah: late of Norfolk, England, who died on 20th July 1879, aged 79 years.
· DOYLE, John: native of Taghmon, County Wexford who died on the 13th February 1865,  aged: 58 years.
· MENZIES, Elizabeth: died at Albury on the 14th March 1913, aged 81 years.
· BROOKS, Robert: of Strokestown, County Roscommon, Ireland who died on the 16th November 1900, aged 59 years, and
· CHEW, Thomas James who died on the 24th September, 1869, aged 4 months and Eli CHEW [died: 17th Sept 1873, aged: 17 years] and Eli CHEW [died: 3rd Nov 1881, aged 51 years]
.  STEVENSON, Richard (Dr) – No headstone; Aged 36 years. Died 8th October 1867,  Buried: 9th October 1867.
.  WELCHMAN,  John Alexander Cromwell (Dr), aged: 58 years, Died: 2nd September 1915.  Buried 4th September 1915.

A hand drawn map of the cemetery was prepared on the 5th August 1980 showing the location of the known graves in the cemetery. This map only identified those graves that had headstones/memorials. It may never be known just how many burials there were in the cemetery and who they all were.

Over time research has been undertaken to identify burials within the cemetery. To date fifteen burials have been located from death certificates from 1858 to 1888. These are other burials than those noted on headstones/memorials in the cemetery. Research is still ongoing.

With the new cemetery trust of five people in place  as of late September 1980, the cemetery has been cleared up, well care for and is currently being well used.

The Hume City Council has incorporated the cemetery in the Heritage Study Reviews of 2000 and 2001.

 References:

* Dept of Sustainability and Environment: Donnybrook Cemetery.

* Public Health Division; File: H-CEM-162 – Donnybrook Public Cemetery.

* Hume City Heritage Study: former Broadmeadows area and environs 2000 and 2001

    Donybrook later Kalkallo Cemetery.

* Genealogical Society of Victoria Cemetery File: Donnybrook (Kalkallo) Cemetery: Headstones 1853 to 12 July 1962. Transcribed and carded by Mrs C. L. Jones, June 1984.

David W. Weatherill

October 2014