A plaque commemorating the 61 people believed to be buried at Wagonga Cemetery was dedicated by Uniting Church Minister Rev David Oliphant in a moving ceremony last Thursday.
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Rev Oliphant spoke to the small gathering about the importance of ‘remembering’ those buried at this isolated cemetery near Narooma, especially because only nine names are recorded on headstones.
Narooma Historical Society spokesperson Susan Pryke spoke about the steps over the last five years to reach this day and the considerable community involvement.
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The Society’s Laurelle Pacey spoke about the early Wagonga-Punkalla settlement and what was known about the site.
A Wesleyan Chapel was built there in the mid 1860s and served the community at least until the mid 1870s, yet the adjoining cemetery had both Church of England and Wesleyan burials.
Ms Pryke thanked everyone for what she described as ‘an amazing community effort’. These included:
- · Rev Oliphant and the Mount Dromedary Uniting Church congregation. The cemetery is on Uniting Church land.
- · Eurobodalla Shire Council heritage consultant Pip Giovanelli who drafted the Plan of Management for Wagonga Cemetery; that POM now serves as a template for other historical cemeteries;
- · All those who became ‘Friends of Wagonga Cemetery’;
- · Helen Ryan of Moruya Historical Society and Eileen Grumley who assisted Laurelle with cross checking her list of known burials, based on available research;
- · To Eurobodalla Shire Council and Strategy & Heritage Planner Stephen Halicki for the heritage grants that enabled the Historical Society to purchase the plaque;
- · To Bill Dudley, a Friend of Wagonga Cemetery, and his friends for installing the plaque on site; ‘without them this project would not have happened’. They were Council’s Greg Knight who helped Bill select the rock, Darren Clark from Narooma Cranes who delivered the rock to Bill’s, Jim Taylor, John Sharp who helped get the rock and equipment to the cemetery, and stonemason Ned Jones who installed the plaque.