Tallegalla Cemetery

History of the Tallegalla Cemetery from the Tallegalla Cemetery Conservation Management Plan.

In 1872, Charles Freeman selected approximately 80 acres of Rosewood Scrub at Tallegalla.

In October 1876, 10 acres of his land was resurveyed for a general cemetery.

At this time, the Primitive Methodist Church had title over 1 acre 14 perches of land nearby (on Portion 408) and asked to exchange their land for an equal size near the cemetery. The Government requested James Atkinson to survey off part of the proposed cemetery land for the church. This was done in November 1876, and the balance was gazetted as a general cemetery reserve in April 1877.

Plans of the cemetery show that at this time, there was a ―temporary chapel on the opposite side of the road. This is possibly the reason that the church wanted the land swap. A church was built on the new site in 1880.

The first trustees of the cemetery were: J. W. Vance, J. Ponting, L. Ulrick, P. O'Donnell, W. Ward, C. Eitil, C. Freeman, J. Dart, and C. Cowell.

The first burial in the cemetery is said to have been a son of Mr. Dart, who had selected land on the western side of Tallegalla School. The coffin was carried the two miles to the cemetery for burial. However the boy‘s name does not appear in the official burial register. 

By February 1886 there had been 27 burials in the cemetery.