Dunalley

Cemeteries in the district

Miss W. 1821-1850, 1851-1880, 1881-1910, 1911-1940, 1941-1970, 1971-2000, Early families, General information, Religion, Towns , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Tasmanian Family History Society Inc. has transcribed and photographed headstones of 800+ cemeteries in Tasmania and much of this information can be found in TAMIOT. Here is a list of the CDROMs available for purchase – I use mine on my desktop using Windows 10 without any problems.

Hobart Branch put together the series of three CDROMs of all the cemeteries in the Sorell District in 2004. The information on the CDROMs is not necessarily found on the internet. For each cemetery, they include a description, plan of the graves as well as names on the graves. Most also have images of the gravestones with a transcription and plot number. Many of these cemeteries have had further burials since 2004 when the CDROMs were created.

The One-Place Studies group often do statistical posts so I thought I might do one today about the local cemeteries with information gained from the CDROMs.

Name of Cemetery No. of graves Earliest grave Most common surnames
Carlton River Congregational 20 1838 Henry Morriss Dodge, Steele, Thorne
Copping General 359 1884 Sarah Copping Allanby, Alomes, Brown, Burdon, Copping, Dransfield, Franklin, Gillie, Jacobson, Kingston, Richardson, Swan, White, Woolley
Dunalley General 264

1870 John Clark

1870 Emma Lester

 Bird, Button, Fazackerley, Hildyard, Hyatt, Murphy, Rattenbury, Spaulding, Wiggins
Forcett – Lewisham 199 1876 Charlotte Jones Alomes, Clark, Dodge, Gangell, Long, Reardon, Rollings, Young
Marion Bay at Bream Creek 55 1852 Ann Dunbabin  1852 Louisa Ann Kingston Dunbabin, Kingston
Henry Street, Sorell 446 ** 1828 Charlotte McGinniss Allanby, Bellette, Duncombe, Featherstone, Gatehouse, Hayton, Newitt
Scots Uniting, Sorell 89 ** 1847 Hugh Taylor Denholm Denholm, Hean
St Thomas, Sorell 124 ** 1865 Thomas Wright Bresnehan, Butterworth, French, Montgomery, Wells
St Georges, Sorell 718**  ## 1829 Elizabeth and Susannah Walker – sisters Bellette, Bidgood, Braithwaite, Davis, Featherstone, Jones, Kean, Newitt, Peacock, Phillips, Reardon, Schofield, Walker, Wiggins

** Some women mentioned twice with both maiden and married name.

## Also includes memorials

Many of the cemeteries also had plots with unknown names and dates due to deterioration of headstones.

Readers: Do you know of a relative buried in one of these cemeteries earlier than that mentioned on the CDROMs?

Denison Canal at Dunalley

Miss W. 1881-1910, Services, Transport ,

The Dunalley Canal also known as the Denison Canal was first opened in 1905 by Governor Gerald Strickland who sailed all the way from Hobart on 13 October to officially open the canal.

At the opening of the canal up to 30 boats were waiting to go through. It was worth the wait. So many families moved to the small community to work on the project, it was described as resembling a newly discovered goldfield. Gangs of up to 50 men shovelled soil, clay, gravel and rock into railway wagons, then into punts which dumped the material at sea.

The longer route costs fishermen about an extra $150 in diesel each way. But they believe the community of Dunalley is experiencing greater financial woes. Dunalley suffered in the last few years in the fact that boats can’t call in here now because they can’t get through the canal. And it has a large impact on some of our local businesses, like the canvas maker and things like that.

In a few months this situation could all change because the Tasmanian Government has announced it will dredge this area of the canal before the centenary. The fishing industry believes the Government should dredge the canal regularly arguing it would cut costs, but MAST (Marine and Safety Tasmania) says it won’t be necessary for another 20 years.

This time, the overall project, including all the costs involved, is going to cost the Government about $200,000 to dredge the canal and of that, there’s physically three days dredging which comprises about 25% of the cost. The remainders all the set-up cost. Now you wear those costs whether you dredge once every five years or once every 20 years. This time, the dredging process probably won’t result in Dunalley resembling a newly discovered goldfield, but the community believes it will give them a brighter future.

Further information:

ABC Report in 2005

Another report in 2005

1905 ‘EAST BAY NECK CANAL. THE OPENING CEREMONY.’, The Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 – 1954), 14 October, p. 6. , viewed 28 Apr 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12322228

Blog post including photos by Geoff Ritchie