- Melbourne General Cemetery
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Melbourne General Cemetery 
Aerial view of Melbourne General Cemetery, looking north.Details Year established 1852 Country Australia Location Carlton North, Victoria Size 43 hectares (110 acres) 
Characteristic headstones and grave sites within the cemetery
Cemetery gatehouse
ChapelThe Melbourne General Cemetery is a large (43 hectare) necropolis located 2 km (1.2 mi) north of the city of Melbourne in the suburb of Carlton North.
Contents
History
The cemetery was established in 1852 and opened on 1 June 1853, and the Old Melbourne Cemetery (on the site of what is now the Queen Victoria Market) was closed the next year.
Architecture
The grounds feature several heritage buildings, many in bluestone, including a couple of chapels and a number of cast iron pavilions. The gatehouses are particularly notable.
Famous burials
Four Australian Prime Ministers have headstones in the Melbourne General Cemetery: James Scullin, Sir Robert Menzies, Harold Holt and Sir John Gorton.[1] Holt's stone is a memorial as his body was never recovered after he disappeared at sea.
The tomb of famous Australian explorers Robert O'Hara Burke and William John Wills (see Burke and Wills expedition) is also located in the cemetery, with an inscription reading "Comrades in a great achievement and companions in death."
Also buried here is Sir Isaac Isaacs, the first Australian-born Governor General and John Pascoe Fawkner, one of the founders of Melbourne.
Walter Lindrum, a prodigious billiards player, has a distinctive tombstone in the shape of a billiard table.
Boxing champion "Gentleman Jack" John Reid McGowan is buried in the northern Roman Catholic section.
Patrick Hannan, who was the discoverer of gold at Kalgoorlie in Western Australia has a memorial in the northern part of the Cemetery.
Sir Redmond Barry, the Acting Chief Justice who sentenced Ned Kelly to hang and was instrumental in the foundation of the Royal Melbourne Hospital (1848), the University of Melbourne (1853), and the State Library of Victoria (1854) is also buried in the northern part of the Cemetery.
References
- ^ http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=8535779%7C Retrieved 2010-2-20
External links
- The Southern Metropolitan Cemeteries Trust: administrators of the Melbourne General Cemetery
Coordinates: 37°47′20″S 144°57′55″E / 37.78889°S 144.96528°E
Categories:- Buildings and structures in Melbourne
- History of Melbourne
- Landmarks in Melbourne
- Cemeteries in Victoria (Australia)
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