Wentworth Historical Society

Historical Society News

THE Wentworth Historical Society has embarked on an ambitious project to comprehensively map burial sites in the Shire.

The project aims to visit all the Shire recognised cemeteries, small station cemeteries and lone graves to make a detailed record of each grave, including GPS coordinates.

Other details to be catalogued include headstone details, any fencing and decoration, an assessment of the grave’s condition, access and land tenure.

The catalogue work will also include taking a digital photo of each headstone and any other unique features.

According to historical society president, Jenny McLeod, the “end result will be a searchable database of all graves and cemeteries within the Shire”.

“We will also produce a map showing accurate locations and make this available to the public through the Society.

“The project will provide a record of people who have lived in the Wentworth Shire and family descendants and others with ties to this community will be able to access data about the location, access, and condition of graves.

“The information will enable family descendants to visit the area and identify where conservation works may be needed.

“ Headstones record many aspects of people’s lives. Some include details such as birthplace, country of origin, occupation, place of residence, family members, relationships and cause of death. These details can enhance existing records held by families and add to the social fabric of the region.

“The project will bring with it an awareness of the need to preserve the social history of our area by giving members of the wider community a chance to be involved at a local level.

“We will be calling for interested members of the public to assist once the field work commences and this will include recording headstone transcriptions, making site sketches and filing descriptions.

“All of this information will be vital in making the digital images we take relevant and usable.”

Interestingly the Society is already preparing to ask members of the region’s Italian and Chinese communities to assist with some of the headstone translations.

“There are quite a few in both languages,” Mrs McLeod said.

Mrs McLeod thanked the Bendigo Community Bank for its assistance with the project, providing the funding to purchase a digital camera and a computer to store the graves’ database.

“Both items are now in regular use and we thank the bank for its generous help,” she said.

“Members are now in the process of refining photography techniques and planning a training program for interested community members.”

Anyone who would like to be involved in the project should contact Mrs McLeod on 50273211.