A PUBLIC meeting will be held next Wednesday to form a carer group for the historic Wagonga cemetery on the shores of Wagonga Inlet.
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The cemetery is fairly inaccessible and the graves are in danger of being completely obliterated by native bush, and the Narooma Uniting Church and the Narooma Historical Society are sponsoring its “rescue”.
The meeting, which it is hoped will form a “Friends of Wagonga Cemetery” group, will be at the Narooma Uniting Church Hall from 7.30pm next Wednesday, February 25.
Although 64 people are known to be buried at Wagonga Cemetery, only seven graves are visible. These artefacts are virtually all that remain of Wagonga, a community of some 200 residents in 1866.
The earliest burial appears to be that of infant Henry Wilcocks in 1862 and the last of Peter Clow in 1943. Clow’s headstone is one that has survived.
Alfred Cowdroy’s headstone is particularly significant as his death in 1877 predates the start of the Narooma register of deaths. Cowdroy was the local postmaster.
The cemetery is listed in the Eurobodalla Shire’s heritage schedule and owned by the Narooma Uniting Church. The church and the Narooma Historical Society are hosting the meeting to form Friends of Wagonga Cemetery.
The historical society plans to erect a plaque that lists the names of all the people known to be buried at the site. A grant has been secured and the research done, but approval of a management plan by a cemetery carer group is required before they can proceed.
Rev. David Oliphant, of the Narooma Uniting Church, said the meeting will be of interest to descendants of those buried at the site, interested individuals, and members of local community groups such as Lions or Rotary.
The task of caring for the cemetery is not onerous, but needs people who are able to do some outdoor work. The Friends of Wagonga Cemetery would be expected to meet once a year at the site to manage vegetation, monitor the condition of the graves, and clean up rubbish or unwanted debris.
Interested people are asked to attend the meeting, February 25 at the Uniting Church Hall behind the church, by the water tower on Wagonga Street, starting at 7.30pm.
Contact Laurelle Pacey 4476 1582 or Rev. David Oliphant 4473 7838.
