Yan Yean Public Cemetery: an historical overview By Lindsay Mann Copyright © Yan Yean Public Cemetery Trust, 2009.
The Yan Yean Public Cemetery had its genesis in either 1853 or 1854, when the first death occurred among the labourers employed by Joseph Martindale, the contractor who constructed the Yan Yean Reservoir’s Embankment. Martindale was legally responsible for the welfare of his employees, with that responsibility extending to the appropriate disposal of those who had died; therefore, he found himself in need of a place of burial.
In view of this circumstance, Martindale would have asked the local medico—Dr William Ronald—if he had any ideas. As it happened, Dr Ronald was also a pastoralist and held a Crown lease on Section 19, Parish of Yan Yean, which ran from beyond the Barbers Creek over the hills that define the western boundary of the Plenty Valley to the centre of the Plenty River. This section was cut into two portions by Plenty Road, while its northern boundary was defined by Cades Lane (Road). Dr Ronald authorised Martindale to bury deceased employees, in Section 19 on the west side of Plenty Road in the internal corner that was formed by the intersection of Plenty and Cades Roads.
The nearby town of Whittlesea, as reported in the Argus of 22 September 1853 had, on the previous day, been proclaimed a township—under that name—by Lieutenant Governor Charles Hotham. The inhabitants soon recognised the appropriateness of Martindale’s Burial Ground as a site for a community cemetery. A town meeting would have been held to discuss the matter. George Sherwin J.P.; the earliest settler in the district; agreed to write to the Colonial Secretary, applying to have the burial ground proclaimed a public Cemetery. The earliest letter on the subject found in the Colonial Secretary’s ‘Index of Letter’s Received’ (the nearest thing to the original letter still available), was written by Sherwin on 17 May 1854. This shows that arrangements were already at an advanced stage, with Sherwin naming the proposed trustees, and asking ‘how is the ground to be enclosed?’ The first Trustees, George Sherwin, Dr William Ronald and David Johnston, were appointed by the Lieutenant Governor, in Council, on 17 August 1854. This marks the official beginnings of the Yan Yean Cemetery.
First Trustees
George Sherwin’s resignation was accepted by the Governor on 11 September 1865, with Dr Ronald and David Johnston being joined as trustees by Thomas A. L. Hughes, John Gibson and James Ryan, all were appointed on 20 August 1866, with their first meeting as trustees, held on 13 August; seven days before they were officially appointed. A flurry of activity followed, which may have been expected, when we consider their keenness to get on with the job. They soon decided to tidy up the interments by writing to the deed holders of those few graves then situated on the hill in Compartment 8, for permission to move their loved ones to their ‘proper place;’ in other words to the Compartment set aside for their religious denomination. This proved only partially successful, and the policy was soon abandoned. In 1870 they were able to employ a Sexton who had the capability of revising the Interment Register into a less complicated layout than was currently used. He also designed the hexagonal building known as the Sexton’s Lodge, in which to store his tools and conduct the business of a Sexton, which involved the keeping of burial records, and the sale of grave sites.
The enlarged Trust engineered an end to the cemetery’s pioneer phase and the commencement of a more ordered, indeed a more business like, approach. The cemetery would go through a long period of slow development, only interrupted by a desperate fight for survival during the depression years of the 1930s and the years of the 2nd World War, with an ultra conservative approach to financial management continuing till the late 1960s, when younger men were able to usher-in the current ‘Golden Era’ of its long and varied history.
The official opening of the Gordon and Evelyn Clements Family Chapel took place at the Yan Yean Cemetery on 25th November 2007
Yan Yean cemetery: an alphabetical list to 1995 records are held by the Genealogical Society of Victoria.
See also: Yan Yean Cemetery
