The History of the Bungonia Columbarium and Memorial Wall

Blessed and opened in 2017, the Bungonia Columbarium and Memorial Wall was created as part of the public cemetery, under the auspices of the Bungonia and District Historical Society, Inc. for two core reasons.

Looking for Bungonia Specific History Archives? They are held in Goulburn Workspace by courtesy of Goulburn Mulwaree Council. Please use our contact form to arrange supervised access. You cannot do it through the council or the library.

A Columbarium is normally used to house cremated remains. There is no such place in Bungonia for those who choose a cremation over burial.

However in this case, the Bungonia Columbarium and Memorial Wall is also used as a memorial wall, and provides an opportunity to mark the memory of those known to be buried in the cemetery but the location is unknown.

Why the Bungonia Columbarium and Memorial Wall was needed.

Research showed that Bungonia had historically lacked suitable ways to bury and remember our dead. This had continued until the construction of the Columbarium, in 2017.

As an example, cemetery books list hundreds of people unrecorded.

The historical society wanted to:

  • Recognise 188 people named buried, whose gravesite is unknown
  • To acknowledge 35 people buried here without a name - convicts and others
  • To recollect those 92 people, past contributors to the life of the Bungonia community who are buried outside the cemetery

The Bungonia Columbarium is a way to create a community linkage point between our richly diverse past and present - creating a way for researchers, families and community members to both interact with historic records in the landscape and find suitable new ways to honour their loved ones.

An example of just some of the known and unknown burial sites…

SITES KNOWN

1/ Old Inverary Settlement beside the lock up on the property of REEVESDALE

In 1900 there were notes of at least 6 graves 30metres north of the lock-up but all trace of them has gone.

One remaining headstone has been affixed to the gaol wall to aid preservation; the headstone reads “William Colvin who departed this life on 31st march 1836 ageed 57 erected by his deploring widow.” [Martha Dalley ]

2/Louisa Huon de Kerrilleau and her son William Mitchell (Dame Nellie Melba’s grandfather) are buried on Brisbane Meadow [property on the Lookdown rd]. The iron railed graves can be seen on a a small hillock as you look westward from the road.

3/Jane Sedley Futter who died in 1855 aged 36 is buried in a quiet grave; her headstone under old pine trees on the hill above Jacqua homestead.

SITES UNKNOWN

The earliest record of death in the area, January 1829, is that of Gabriel Houn de Kerrileaau - missing in the Bugonia Gorges of the Shoalhaven river. His site is unknown; only his glasses were found on a log.

Prior to the establishment of the cemetery there were 15 recorded deaths, presumed to have been buried on the properties where they lived or worked.