Adelaide West Terrace Cemetery, established 1838, entrance with Curator's residence and office building: to the right is the shelter provided for visitors. South Australia
Adelaide’s West Terrace Cemetery
The present location of the cemetery appeared in Colonel William Light’s map of Adelaide.
Curator’s residence and office erected 1907 is the third building on the site. The office door faces the roadway inside the entrance.
Inside the entrance gateway is a tile-roofed shelter, with seats, for visitors.
Following renovations the Authority’s goal [is] to establish the Curator’s Cottage at West Terrace Cemetery as a venue for small to medium public functions. The building will also be available for post-funeral service gatherings for families and loved ones.
*West Terrace Cemetery Extension
The Town Clerk of Adelaide (Mr T G Ellery) reported to the last meeting of the finance committee that a Bill had been prepared to ratify the grant of land by the government to the City Council at West terrace.
The original cemetery site consisted of 61acres, but only 43 has been utilized. The remaining area of 18 acres for over 40 years has been devoted by the municipal authorities to depasturing. It was this portion that the Government sought to secure for burying purposes.
Although the corporation protested against this course, it was ascertained that length of possession did not secure to them the title or to prevent resumption for the objects for which the land had been reserved.
The difficulty has now been overcome by an exchange. The council has decided to give a strip of the park lands west of the cemetery and between the old boundary and the railway line in return for that section facing West terrace.
The value of the transfer from the point of view of the citizens is that the extension of the burial ground will now be confined to a locality at a greater distance from private residences. The Government, however, gets the better of the bargain by approximately two acres. [Ref: Register (Adelaide) 2 August 1904]
*Extending the West Terrace Cemetery
In the course of a few weeks a block of land embracing seven acres will be added to the burial ground available in the West Terrace Cemetery. The new area will be an extension of the cemetery in a south westerly direction, and a staff of men have been employed for some time making roads and pathways and planting trees and shrubs.
A quantity of stone taken from the Jubilee Exhibition Grounds west of the pavilions has been utilised for road construction, and three tracks have been formed, one of which encircles an oval of considerable dimensions, which will be subdivided by pathways. A large number of cedar, plane, and elm trees and shrubs have been put in, and in a few weeks the block will be ready for use, if necessary. This addition to the city burial ground will meet all requirements for many years, and there is no likelihood now of a new necropolis being established for several decades.
The new residence which has been provided for the curator is a decided improvement on the old structure, and quite an ornament to the approach to the cemetery. [Ref: The Express and Telegraph (Adelaide) 16-9-1907]
*A Glimpse of History by Special Reporter
The new fence and officer’s quarters and the beautiful garden at the entrance to the West Terrace Cemetery have improved beyond measure the approach to the graveyard.
Since the present curator (Mr H G Mildred) took charge the remedy has occurred.
The new curator's cottage and offices have also given more accommodation and have generally afforded a cheerier aspect than was formerly presented. [Inside the entrance are] two main drives, neatly rounded and tarred for a considerable distance.
I asked the curator how many were buried in the cemetery. "Nearly 60,000, he replied. If you scan the notices in The Register you will see that there are several funerals every day: and as the population grows so of course must the burials here increase in frequency: so that the thousands soon mount up."
We stepped inside the office, and Mr Mildred produced an old book. The first page was inscribed, "John Monck, first sexton, March 17, 1838." In the cemetery’s first period the books were destroyed by fire. So the first known recorded funeral in the earliest existing book was on July 2, 1840, when James Laffan, aged 30, residence, parklands, was interred.
The first lease of ground in the cemetery was applied for in September 1839, in the name of the Hon Robert Gouger (first Colonial Secretary): and in so leisurely a manner did matters move in those days that it was not granted until December 2.
Other lessees, who closely followed are Messrs Edward Frome, Giles Abbott. G Strickland Kingston, Joseph Fisher, and James Chittleborough.
The latest considerable addition to the cemetery has been the crematorium—a concession to modern notions of sanitary reform in connection with the disposal of the dead.
It was founded by a few enthusiastic citizens, and at the beginning was little used. In the past year or two however, cremations have been fairly frequent; and a row of half a dozen or so of small square marble tombs indicates where the urns containing the ashes of a number of clients of the institution have been deposited in cases where the friends preferred such interment within the grounds rather than to carry the remains of their friends away in private urns. [Ref: Journal (Adelaide) Thursday 15 January 1914]
Adelaide West Terrace Cemetery, established 1838, entrance with Curator's residence and office building: to the right is the shelter provided for visitors. South Australia
Adelaide’s West Terrace Cemetery
The present location of the cemetery appeared in Colonel William Light’s map of Adelaide.
Curator’s residence and office erected 1907 is the third building on the site. The office door faces the roadway inside the entrance.
Inside the entrance gateway is a tile-roofed shelter, with seats, for visitors.
Following renovations the Authority’s goal [is] to establish the Curator’s Cottage at West Terrace Cemetery as a venue for small to medium public functions. The building will also be available for post-funeral service gatherings for families and loved ones.
*West Terrace Cemetery Extension
The Town Clerk of Adelaide (Mr T G Ellery) reported to the last meeting of the finance committee that a Bill had been prepared to ratify the grant of land by the government to the City Council at West terrace.
The original cemetery site consisted of 61acres, but only 43 has been utilized. The remaining area of 18 acres for over 40 years has been devoted by the municipal authorities to depasturing. It was this portion that the Government sought to secure for burying purposes.
Although the corporation protested against this course, it was ascertained that length of possession did not secure to them the title or to prevent resumption for the objects for which the land had been reserved.
The difficulty has now been overcome by an exchange. The council has decided to give a strip of the park lands west of the cemetery and between the old boundary and the railway line in return for that section facing West terrace.
The value of the transfer from the point of view of the citizens is that the extension of the burial ground will now be confined to a locality at a greater distance from private residences. The Government, however, gets the better of the bargain by approximately two acres. [Ref: Register (Adelaide) 2 August 1904]
*Extending the West Terrace Cemetery
In the course of a few weeks a block of land embracing seven acres will be added to the burial ground available in the West Terrace Cemetery. The new area will be an extension of the cemetery in a south westerly direction, and a staff of men have been employed for some time making roads and pathways and planting trees and shrubs.
A quantity of stone taken from the Jubilee Exhibition Grounds west of the pavilions has been utilised for road construction, and three tracks have been formed, one of which encircles an oval of considerable dimensions, which will be subdivided by pathways. A large number of cedar, plane, and elm trees and shrubs have been put in, and in a few weeks the block will be ready for use, if necessary. This addition to the city burial ground will meet all requirements for many years, and there is no likelihood now of a new necropolis being established for several decades.
The new residence which has been provided for the curator is a decided improvement on the old structure, and quite an ornament to the approach to the cemetery. [Ref: The Express and Telegraph (Adelaide) 16-9-1907]
*A Glimpse of History by Special Reporter
The new fence and officer’s quarters and the beautiful garden at the entrance to the West Terrace Cemetery have improved beyond measure the approach to the graveyard.
Since the present curator (Mr H G Mildred) took charge the remedy has occurred.
The new curator's cottage and offices have also given more accommodation and have generally afforded a cheerier aspect than was formerly presented. [Inside the entrance are] two main drives, neatly rounded and tarred for a considerable distance.
I asked the curator how many were buried in the cemetery. "Nearly 60,000, he replied. If you scan the notices in The Register you will see that there are several funerals every day: and as the population grows so of course must the burials here increase in frequency: so that the thousands soon mount up."
We stepped inside the office, and Mr Mildred produced an old book. The first page was inscribed, "John Monck, first sexton, March 17, 1838." In the cemetery’s first period the books were destroyed by fire. So the first known recorded funeral in the earliest existing book was on July 2, 1840, when James Laffan, aged 30, residence, parklands, was interred.
The first lease of ground in the cemetery was applied for in September 1839, in the name of the Hon Robert Gouger (first Colonial Secretary): and in so leisurely a manner did matters move in those days that it was not granted until December 2.
Other lessees, who closely followed are Messrs Edward Frome, Giles Abbott. G Strickland Kingston, Joseph Fisher, and James Chittleborough.
The latest considerable addition to the cemetery has been the crematorium—a concession to modern notions of sanitary reform in connection with the disposal of the dead.
It was founded by a few enthusiastic citizens, and at the beginning was little used. In the past year or two however, cremations have been fairly frequent; and a row of half a dozen or so of small square marble tombs indicates where the urns containing the ashes of a number of clients of the institution have been deposited in cases where the friends preferred such interment within the grounds rather than to carry the remains of their friends away in private urns. [Ref: Journal (Adelaide) Thursday 15 January 1914]