Description of Gravesites by Rita Cothier, Musings from the Cemetery Mailbag Irish

Musings from the Cemetery: by Patsy Hennessy

Gravesites at Walhalla, in Victoria, Australia
Submitted by Rita Cothier
These graves were in the cemetery at WALHALLA in Victoria. Walhalla used to be a thriving bustling gold mining town and remains of the gold mines are all around. It was a hard life and I guess folk made do the best they could.
The whole area around the settlement was (and is) covered in eucalyptus (gum trees) which have extremely hard wood - which explains why these have lasted so long. I think these particular ones are made from either ironbark or redgum, but I may be wrong. When the gold ran out so did the miners and now the trees have grown back and covered the traces.
I have seen only one other wooden marker, and that was in the cemetery of the now completely non-existent town of WHROO which is near Rushworth in Victoria. This marker was in a much more dilapidated state but was definitely made of ironbark. Whroo is (or was) situated in the middle of the largest natural box-ironbark forest in the world. Whroo was also a goldmining town with thousands of inhabitants, but now all that remains is the cemetery and the forest.
Photos submitted by Rita Cothier

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Thursday, December 26th, 2019

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