Proserpine Cemetery

Proserpine Cemetery is a cemetery located in Proserpine a town in the Whitsunday Region of Queensland, Australia. It opened in the late 1880s and has seen the burials of many of the town's and region's pioneers. It is made up of two sections. The "Old" section was used from the late 1880s up until the 1980s and a "New" section which is the lawn cemetery that opened in the 1980s.

Proserpine Cemetery
Proserpine Lawn Cemetery.
Details
Established	circa 1880.
Location	Proserpine, Queensland
Country	Australia
Coordinates	20.3948°S 148.5640°E / -20.3948; 148.5640
Type	Public
Website
Find a Grave	Proserpine Cemetery

History

The Proserpine Cemetery began being used in the late 1880s and was placed under the control of the Proserpine Shire Council in the early 1900s.

Before this, many burials occurred in isolated locations, and efforts have been made to document all of them. Unfortunately, some of these "lone graves" may never be found, but acknowledging their existence is crucial.

In the early days of Proserpine Cemetery, burials were largely unstructured, except for the separation of Catholic and Protestant sections. The weather often determined burial locations, with rainy-season burials in the northern part and dry-season burials in the southern part.

Originally, the cemetery had just two main sections: the Catholic Section (now mapped as Sections C-1 to C-8) and the Protestant Section (now mapped as Sections OP-1 to OP-11).^{[citation needed]}

For a long time, babies were buried wherever space allowed, often between other graves. Later, specific sections were designated for baby burials. Notably, children and babies feature prominently in the list of "Missing Graves".

Unfortunately, early burial practices showed evidence of racial prejudice, with certain minority groups buried "against the fence" on the western side of the original Protestant section.

The fence was later removed when the cemetery was extended, and a road was built in its place. This road now serves the New Protestant area (mapped as Sections NP-1 to NP-9). It is highly likely that graves lie beneath this road.^{[citation needed]}

When suicides were considered shameful, pressure existed to bury victims "outside the gates." Evidence suggests at least one such burial occurred. The "Missing Graves" list includes several suicides, but despite extensive research, it remains unclear which individuals were buried outside the cemetery or where those burials took place.^[1]

War graves

Proserpine Cemetery contains many war graves of Proserpine people who have served in all major wars.^{[citation needed]}

Gallery

• 
  The Columbarium
• 
  The "Old" Section
• 
  Grave of Oliver Francis Ruge (d. 1930)
• 
  Grave of Werner Marcus Ruge (d. 1914)
• 
  Grave of Johan Frederick Phaff (d. 1907)
• 
  Grave of Charles & August Hyden (both d. 1911)
• 
  Grave of Metta Sophie (d. 1908)
• 
  Grave of William Greenwood