Collie Cemetery

Statement of Significance

Collie Cemetery, Coalfields Highway, Collie has cultural heritage significance as the burial place of people and families significant in the settlement and development of Collie and the Collie region. It has aesthetic value as a cultural landscape and is highly valued by the Collie town and community for its religious, historical, familial and social associations.

Physical Description

The entrance statement to the cemetery is a gabled steel portico with a Hardiplank to the gable end which faces the street. On each side of the driveway are steel posts on low red brick pillars. The boundary either side is formed by a white picket fence spaced by red brick pillars. The memorial walls each side of the entrance are constructed of multi-coloured brick walls with a flat iron roof.

History

Evidence suggests that whilst, the community had been seeking a site for a cemetery for since at least 1897 when ‘the Local Health Board selected sites for a hospital, cemetery, and sanitary depot today, and is now awaiting the official sanction of the localities chose from the Central Board in Perth’, it was some years before the cemetery was established, with the earliest newspaper references to a burial at the Collie Cemetery in June 1901 when John Watt was interred in the Presbyterian section of the cemetery.

In May 1902 it was reported that there was dissatisfaction in the community over the management of the cemetery and confusion regarding the allocation of allotments to the various denominations. Later that month the Department of Lands requested the submission of ‘the names three … gentlemen, one representing each religious denomination, who are willing to act as trustees of the cemetery’.

Mourners could travel to the cemetery from Collie by train. The coffin travelled in the brake van.

In 1905 the local trustees (Rev Father O’Donnell, Mr Johns and Mr Speight representing the Catholic, Wesley and Anglican churches respectively) noted concern regarding the condition of the Collie Cemetery and requested from the Colonial Secretary a grant ‘for the purpose of laying out, clearing it, fitting the front portion with a picket fence, and for the erection of a small building at the entrance.” The trustees were informed that no funds were available. Efforts were then made to raise funds via subscription to commence the required works.

In 1914, a portion of the cemetery was allocated to the Salvation Army and ‘a privy’ erected for use by the public.

At a June 1916 meeting of the Cemetery Board it was noted that there was no record of owners and numbers of graves at the Collie Cemetery and that ‘there should be a proper register kept, and at present they could not trace where anyone was buried’.

Integrity/Authenticity

High/ High

Condition

Fair/ Good

Uses

Historic Themes

Creation Date

Publish place record online (inHerit):

Last Update

Disclaimer

This information is provided voluntarily as a public service. The information provided is made available in good faith and is derived from sources believed to be reliable and accurate. However, the information is provided solely on the basis that readers will be responsible for making their own assessment of the matters discussed herein and are advised to verify all relevant representations, statements and information.