By Tanya Steele
The Narre Warren and District Family History Group Inc. held their annual spring cemetery walk-through on Sunday 27 October.
Lovely weather and scenery combined with the previously untold tales of those lying at rest at the Emerald Cemetery gave all the attendees a local history dive into the lives of those buried onsite.
The Life and death in the hills: a walk in Emerald Cemetery tour explored the lives and history of 16 people buried in Emerald and their stories ranged from those of local figures and artists to the tragic stories of children who lived in the area.
President Jane Rivett-Carnac said the tour was really good and the group were pleased with the numbers.
“There were 60 adults, one child and one very large dog,” she said.
“We enjoyed the beautiful weather walking around the cemetery and we got really good feedback from the people.”
Disclosing the history of First Nations artist Ronald Bull, Academy award winner John Truscott, the Fleming family and more Ms Rivett-Carnac said each group that they took around on tour had had different perspectives the history they learned from their guides.
“It was a really positive day,” she said.
Attendees ranged from near and far, with local descendants of some of those buried at Emerald present on the day, several representatives from a number of historical societies, local councillor Ben Owen and General Manager at the Eastern Region of the Greater Metropolitan Cemeteries Trust Phillip Snow.
“There were people there from the Monbulk Historical Society, the Lang Lang Historical Society and the Gippsland Historical Society,” said Ms Rivett-Carnac.
“We had a really lovely cross-section of new visitors, people we’d not met before and we had Phyllis and Ted who have been to every one of our cemetery walks,” she said.
The grounds at Emerald Cemetery are particularly stunning in spring and Ms Rivett-Carnac said that she credits the Friends of Emerald Cemetery group for work they put in on the grounds.
“They have done a great job, and it’s always clean and neat and tidy – it was one of those really beautiful sunny days where the cemetery just shone,” she said.
The Narre Warren and District Family History Group has been conducting historical walks in the City of Casey and the Shire of Cardinia for several years, focusing on both family and local history.
Initially starting their walks in Berwick and Haraway, the group has expanded to include other cemeteries, offering walks in Pakenham, Lang Lang, Bunyip, Cranbourne, the old community cemetery in Dandenong, and Berwick.
This marks their first visit to the Emerald site, and Ms Rivett-Carnac said that the only cemetery they have yet to explore is in Gembrook.
The group always assemble a book based on the detailed research they do for their annual tours and Ms Rivett-Carnac said they do have a book for this most recent walk.
“This is available from our website if people want to know more about the people we spoke of at Emerald, or from any of the other walks that we’ve done in other cemeteries,” she said.
The group have turned towards planning for next year’s spring cemetery walk and Ms Rivett-Carnac said potentially, they might go back to Pakenham.
“The only cemetery we haven’t been to in the Casey-Cardinia region is Gembrook, so that’s on our radar,” she said.
“Overall, it was all very positive and very enjoyable, and now it’s over, we have to start thinking about next year,” she said.
More information about the Narre Warren and District Family History Group Inc. can be found at: https://nwfhg.org.au/
