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Walkerville Wesleyan Cemetery

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• Walkerville Wesleyan Cemetery, Walkerville, South Australia category for a listing of people buried in this cemetery.

Cemetery name: Walkerville Wesleyan Cemetery

Address: 10 Smith Street Walkerville SA 5081

GPS Coordinates: Latitude: -34.892235 Longitude: 138.613108

Information: Walkerville Wesleyan Cemetery, Walkerville, South Australia

The land for the Walkerville Wesleyan Cemetery was purchased on 8th May 1849 by the Trustees of the Wesleyan and Methodist Society for the sum of 12 pounds ($24). The first recorded burial was on 10th April 1850. Although the majority of burials were Wesleyan, there was a policy of allowing access to members of other denominations, so the cemetery is a reflection of the earlier settler society of the district. A number of burials also took place from the Klemzig settlement, with headstone inscriptions in German. Among the interred are prominent settlers together with tradesmen and children. A reflection of the state of health in the 1850s to 1870s is very poignant with over 400 children under one year of age buried in the cemetery. Out of the 3,785 persons buried, a shocking two thirds, that is more than 2,500, are children.

From The Mail newspaper of Saturday 17 May 1924, we see the following article:

OLD WALKERVILLE...

ANCIENT CHAPEL.
Eighty years ago a Methodist Church was built at Walkerville, nine years after Governor Hindmarsh had pro-claimed South Australia a colony, Rev. Gordon Rowe is minister of the present Methodist Church at Walkervillfe, which was built on the site of the original church.
"The first Methodist Church of the State," he says, "was erected somewhere in Hindley street. That, I think, was in 1837. In 1839 it was transferred to Gawler place, land then, in 1851 to its present location in Pirie street. The se-cond Methodist church was- built at Ker-mode street. North Adelaide, and the third somewhere in Bowden. The fourth was Walkerville. But Walker-ville is the only church of those four that still stands on its original plot of ground. It is only 12 years ago. that the original building was pulled down. The hall that stands alongside the pre-sent church was built in 1854."
GOD'S ACRE.
The early settlers brought with them from England some of their cherished traditions. They were used to burying their dead in the village churchyard, in God'e acre, as it was called.
The first trustees of the Walkerville Methodist Church obtained an acre of land, and set it aside for the village burial place. It is only occasionally nowadays that some relative of an ancient line is laid to rest. Many fine tombstones adorn the burial ground; many graves are covered by nothing but a rank growth of weeds; some stones are broken and crumbling; some are well preserved. A broken headstone re-cords the fact that a child of five was laid to rest in 1847.
There are men and women buried in the cemetery who were old when Waterloo was fought. One stone records that Martha Waterhouse Watson, born 1770, and William Watson, born 1772, lie side by side. They were buried in the fifties.
There, are touches of romance, tinged with sadness, in the ancient graves and tomstones of Walkerville. A plain wooden cross, with a brief inscription in Russian, marks the resting place of a foreigner, perhaps a seaman. German inscriptions are plentiful, while Poles and other races are represented. One inscription records the burial of Meno Haas, a professor of music, of Copenhagen.
OLD-TIME TRAGEDY.
The cemetery contains a link with a tragedy that has been forgotten in the passing, years. A handsome stone marks the place where "Harry Pearce, a mem-ber of the South Australian, police, who was cruelly murdered while escorting a prisoner near Kingston on May 16, 1881," lies sleeping.

BURIAL INTERMENT LISTINGS etc.

Town of Walkerville's Cemeteries Search at: http://www.walkerville.sa.gov.au/cemeteries

The Find a Grave website at: https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/2574798/walkerville-wesleyan-cemetery?

The Australian Cemeteries Index at: https://austcemindex.com/?cemetery=3951

The Gravestone Photographic Resource database at: https://www.gravestonephotos.com/public/cemetery.php?cemetery=1969

The Billion Graves website at: https://billiongraves.com/cemetery/Walkerville-Wesleyan-Methodist-Cemetery/154140