Wooroloo Cemetery

Statement of Significance

The Wooroloo Cemetery has high social significance for the Shire, surrounding the district and the State for it's associations as the burial place for early families in the district and the tuberculosis sanatorium in the early half of the 20th century.

Physical Description

The Wooroloo Cemetery is nestled in gently sloping, timbered country east of Wooroloo off Linley Valley Road. It has an attractive white timber entry fence and beyond the entry an old timber gazebo provides shelter for mourners. The centre of the gazebo has an unusual feature, in the form of a small, partitioned, priest's robing room. The gazebo, which is the focus for the main axis road down through the cemetery, has become neglected and in need of restoration or replacement to stave off the ravages of time and termites. The cemetery itself has a slightly neglected feel. Being further from Mundaring and serving a small community, especially now that the tuberculosis sanatorium and hospital have ceased to exist, it suffers from lack of regular use and maintenance. In many respects it is much more attractive than the Mundaring Cemetery and the Shire's efforts to keep it operating are to be commended.

History

Although the Wooroloo Cemetery was originally surveyed by W.H. Shields on 15th September 1902, it was not gazetted until 13th July 1906. The first Board to control the cemetery appears to have been appointed by the Under Secretary for Lands, Cecil Clifton on 25th June 1916. It consisted of Edward. B. Stephens, William. H.G. Howard, Frank C. Wishart and Ernest Wilson. At least three of the men were prominent in the Wooroloo community. Edward Stephens, a partner with Fred Jones in a grocery and gallon licence at Wooroloo, was also Chairman of the Greenmount Road Board 1909-1913, and a member 1907-13, and 1921-23. It was through his property that a temporary tramway was constructed in 1913 for transporting building materials for the construction of the Wooroloo Sanatorium (Site 194). Frank Wishart had come from Angaston, a fruit growing area in South Australia to Wooroloo in 1898, and was secretary of the Wooroloo Repatriation Sub-Committee. He was a friend and partner of Ernest Wilson, who is best remembered for the 'Buffalo Handle Factory'. This factory which operated until the early 1940s, produced Karri axe and other tool handles for local, interstate and overseas markets. Wilson was also secretary of the Primary Producer's Association, and established the 'Wilson Patent Coolers Company'. On 5th July 1918, following the resignation of the original Board, four new members were appointed to what was described as the 'Wooroloo Sanatorium Cemetery'. The new members included Robert 'Bob' Macfarlane Mitchell, the Chief Residential Medical Officer of the nearby Wooroloo Sanatorium, and its secretary Ernest Chapman Lovely. In the following year, the original four Board members were reappointed as what appears to be additional members, and subsequently the cemetery is only ever referred to as Wooroloo Cemetery. Between 1920 and 1957, resignations and deaths of Board members necessitated appointments on a regular basis. Of the original members, Ernest Wilson was associated with the Board until his death in the early 1940s. Frank Wishart died in 1925, W.H.G. Howard left the district in 1926, and Edward Stephens did likewise in 1934. In March 1945, a critical report from Mr O Bowyer of the Auditor General's office cited problems with the Road Board and the cemetery, including non-payment of undertaker's fees (Including by a company associated with one of the Board members), inadequate record keeping and no Board meeting held since December 1942. The difficulty recruiting and retaining Board members finally came to a head in October 1957, when the then secretary, Wooroloo Postmaster W Thomas resigned, leaving the Board inoperable. On the 29thNovember 1957, the control and management of the Wooroloo Cemetery was vested with the Mundaring Road Board. At present the Shire of Mundaring retains that responsiibilty.

Integrity/Authenticity

Integrity: High

Condition

Fair

Uses

Historic Themes

Creation Date

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