Historical cemeteries

Established in 1875, Bellawongarah Cemetery is located off Kangaroo Valley Road (just south of the old school house) and can be accessed by the public via a short walk from the road.

Please note that there are leeches in the area.

The Berry-Hay family cemetery is located just off Edward Wollstoncraft Ln, about a ten minute walk south east of the Coolangatta Homestead.

With Victorian palisade fencing and a large obelisk monument for David Berry, the site is of considerable historic and social value as an early pioneer cemetery.

In 1843 William Graham's early home at Greenhills was noted as the only residence in the vicinity of present-day Nowra.

Graham Lodge has local significance for its historical association with the Graham family, who were among the first European settlers in the area and prominent in early local politics. It is also significant for its evidence of the craftsmanship of early Nowra builders Charles Moore and Willet Burrey. The private cemetery records the deaths of many early Graham family members.

Graham Lodge is of State significance as an early substantial residence built 1860-1861 on the NSW south coast, in the style of Victorian Georgian with Victorian Regency influences. The two storey veranda facade would appear to be the earliest example of this residential form in the Shoalhaven.

The Graham family cemetery is a small private cemetery within view to the east of the residence, now on a separate allotment, that contains three headstones and the Graham monument.

Burials

Its first burial was that of William Graham who died on 20 September 1852. Other known burials within the cemetery include

• Margaret Graham (d. 20 December 1853)
• John Graham (d. 24 April 1862)
• James Graham (d. 24 July 1867)
• Heroine Ivy Graham (d. 2 February 1893)
• Ross Stuart Graham (d. 7 February 1906)
• Hubert Lionel Graham (d. 14 September 1919)
• Emily Anne Graham (d. 13 November 1924)
• James Graham (d. 4 June 1927)

There is also a memorial to Douglas Erle Graham (killed In Action 14 April 1918). The headstone dedicated to William Graham is of particular significance as marking the grave of an original land grantee situated on the original grant.

The Harley Hill Cemetery is located on the corner of Beach Road and Harley Hill Road in Berry. Dedicated in 1899, it is a rather large cemetery that was situated between Beach Road and the old Illawarra Railway of 1893. The area is lightly wooded due to the lack of use and maintenance from circa 1920 to 1994.

This was Berry's second cemetery and includes graves of many notable citizens and a few quality monuments. The Cemetery is of Local (Shoalhaven) significance.

Morton Cemetery is situated on Crown Land in the vicinity of Woodburn Road/Brooman Road/Monkey Mountain Road, Termeil.

The cemetery can only be approached on foot some 500 metres north of the property 'Meadow Glen'. It is bounded on three sides by the floodplain and open paddocks, and is dominated by three large trees; a mature cypress and two native species. Located on the levee bank on the south side of the Shoalhaven River the cemetery survived the disastrous floods of 1862 and 1870 which demolished much of Terara.

The cemetery was developed in association with the private township of Numbaa on Alexander Berry's Coolangatta Estate. Burials began pre-1856 when the civil register of Births, Deaths and Marriages was established with graves arranged in two sections at the eastern and western ends of the site. Monuments of note include:

1. Sandstone stellae with ogee arch and rounded shoulders to ? Anderson.
2. An early sandstone table.
3. A stylised double sandstone stellae to Eliza (1867) and James (1866) Gollan.
4. A Gothic marble stellae to Elizabeth Hawken (1859).
5. A sandstone stellae 2 metres high with pilasters and native angels in relief, a crown and scroll pediment with surmount to Alan Robertson.
6. A white marble stelae with ornate shell and floral surmount to Samuel Percival (1883).
7. A fine sandstone stellae with pediment, fluted pilasters over circle motif surmounted by floral motif in relief with angular crockets and matching footstone. Although a Bicentennial Project recorded all buried there on a modern plaque the site is heavily overgrown with Kikuyu grass.

Directions:

• Travel east on Terara Road to rural property no. 441A
• Take driveway into property
• Drive straight ahead until you get to the gate.
• The cemetery is 500m (north) beyond the gate.

Old Worrigee Cemetery is situated on Greenwell Point Road, Worrigee, about 50 metres east of the Millbank and Worrigee Roads intersection.

Established on the grounds of St Johns Anglican Church and donated by Mrs. Prosper De Mestre (of regional Illawarra significance), it contains the grave of George Legg, a surveyor who drowned whilst crossing the Shoalhaven River on September 17th, 1856.

Tomerong Cemetery is situated on Crown Land in two parcels. The first was dedicated in 1888 with a smaller portion dedicated in 1890.

Ulladulla's pioneer burial ground was laid out in July 1858 with the last known burial in 1898. Located in South Ulladulla, it has been known as Ulladulla General Cemetery and Racecourse Cemetery. Only four headstones remain today from approximately 70 burials.

Burials

The Warden Family Cemetery was built by David Warden over 160 years ago. It is situated on private property at 423 Croobyar Road, Croobyar NSW 2538 and consists of 10 graves. The cemetery was part of the old Croobyar Farm, one of the district's earliest buildings and an impressive example of early life in Milton Ulladulla. David Warden (1810 - 1875) and his brother James Warden (1820 - 1904) were the founders of the Warden family in the Milton Ulladulla District.

In 1999, Shoalhaven City Council agreed to undertake periodic maintenance of the Cemetery.

Woodhill Historical Cemetery is situated on Wattamolla Road, Woodhill NSW 2535. Access from the road is unmarked.

There are 12 burials at the site with 10 monuments still visible.

Yalwal lies 28 km west of Nowra. Once a substantial town, the last of the goldmines closed at Yalwal in the 1920s. Some of the homes were dismantled in World War I as building materials were in short supply. The 1939 bushfires then destroyed most of what remained and the former township was entirely covered by water in 1972 when Danjera Creek Dam opened.

Yalwal Cemetery is all that remains from the original settlement.

The graveyard was restored as a bicentennial project in 1988. The oldest grave dates back to 1854. Today there is a picnic spot near the dam with bushwalking nearby. There are toilets, barbecues and drinking water available.

Operating from 1875-1893, Yatte Yattah Cemetery was bulldozed in the 1950's. There were just over 50 burials on the site.

The cemetery was adjacent to the pioneer RC St. Mary's Chapel. It was also know as 'Duckhole' Ulladulla, Church of Rome and then 'Avondale', which later became the Roman Catholic Cemetery at Armstrong's Forest.

Burials