Dunwich Cemetery, Heritage cemetery in North Stradbroke Island, Australia.
Dunwich Cemetery is a burial ground on North Stradbroke Island that spreads across open grassland dotted with mature trees, with views toward Moreton Bay. A central track runs through the grounds, allowing visitors to navigate among the graves and memorials.
The first burials at Dunwich Cemetery date from 1847, when sailors from the ship Sovereign were interred; the site was gazetted as a quarantine area in July 1850. After the quarantine station moved to Peel Island in 1867, the Dunwich Benevolent Asylum occupied the former buildings, and between 1867 and 1947, 8,426 inmates were buried here. The cemetery closed to further burials in 1952 and was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.
The memorial wall was built by Consolidated Rutile Limited, a sand-mining company, using bricks from the demolished asylum laundry. It honours the asylum inmates buried in unmarked graves, and nameplates are added as research confirms their names.
The grounds can be walked via the main vehicle track that passes through the site, and the location is accessible by ferry from the mainland. Visitors should prepare for open terrain and uneven surfaces, so sturdy footwear and sun protection are helpful.
The metal sign unveiled in 1993 lists the 26 immigrants from the ship Emigrant who died of typhus in 1850 and were buried here, among them Surgeon-General Dr David Keith Ballow and the ship's doctor Dr George Mitchell.
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