McLeod Street Pioneer Cemetery, Heritage cemetery in Cairns North, Australia

McLeod Street Pioneer Cemetery occupies a 10-acre site at 127–145 McLeod Street, bounded on three sides by McLeod, Gatton and Grove Streets. It was gazetted in 1877 and used until 1949, with about 2,500 burials recorded between 1887 and 1949. Graves could be dug no deeper than 3 feet because the ground is poorly drained and floods seasonally.

The cemetery was established in 1877 as Cairns first burial ground and served as the main burial site until 1954. It records the early settlement and growth of the city during this formative period.

The cemetery sections reflect the multicultural population of early Cairns, with areas designated for different Christian denominations and separate spaces for Chinese, Malay, and Aboriginal communities.

The site lies at 127–145 McLeod Street in Cairns North, and McLeod Street was still unmade beyond Spence Street in 1884. Graves could not be dug deeper than 3 feet (0.91 m) because the ground is poorly drained and floods seasonally, so expect soft, wet turf in the wet season. Only half of Section 36 was ever fenced as a burial ground; Section 35, never used for burials, was divided in 1908/09 into reserves for a morgue, an endemic diseases hospital and municipal purposes.

Graves could be dug no deeper than 3 feet (0.91 m) because the chosen site proved poorly drained and prone to seasonal flooding, despite being picked as dry ground. The cemetery also holds an area for non-Christians, where Chinese, Malays, Javanese and Aboriginal people were buried; the Chinese community is believed to have held the feast of the dead there three times a year.