Wesleyan Cemetery

Wesleyan Cemetery

The Walkerville Wesleyan Cemetery is located at 10 Smith Street, Walkerville.

The Cemetery is a lovely place of solitude and provides, within the 3,785 burials, a picture of early local settler society and a social record of the activities of the local community. We have many prominent settlers interred, plus many local pioneer tradesmen and women, including shepherds, preachers, academics, saddle-makers, wheelwrights, boot makers etc.

The land for this cemetery was purchased on 8 May 1849 by the Trustees of the Walkerville Wesleyan Church for the sum of 12 pounds.

The first recorded burial was on 10 April 1850. Although the majority of burials were from the Wesleyan Church, there was a policy of allowing access to members of other denominations, so the cemetery presents a reflection of the earlier settler society of the district. Quite a number of headstones are German, reflecting the many workers from Hanover area who came to South Australia to work.

In 1972, the control of the cemetery passed to the Walkerville Council, which has overseen the preservation of the cemetery and the remaining records with the assistance of the Wesleyan Cemetery Advisory Committee.

The cemetery has 3,785 recorded burials having taken place, of which about two-thirds are children, reflecting the unhygienic conditions in the years 1850-1870.

Click here to view the Wesleyan Cemetery Guide.