For many grey nomads travelling in regional Australia, taking a walk through a country cemetery is one of the most authentic-feeling ways to get a sense of the place’s history.
Sometimes, the etchings on a faded tombstone will offer a clue to the tragedy and the trauma of a period of history … a mother who died in childbirth, or perhaps a worker killed in a farm accident.
While using your imagination to picture what life would have been like for those ‘normal’ people who helped build this country is part of the appeal of these graveyard walks, it can also be highly unsatisfying.
What is the real story behind the stark information displayed on the headstone? Unless it’s the grave of a famous bushranger or a high-ranking politician, the chances are the average grey nomad will wander off and never know.
A new app will tell some of the fascinating stories of people buried in selected cemeteries. PIC: Dr Bernadette Drabsch
But that has now changed … at least it has in the Central Darling Shire of NSW.
Recognising the strong interest in graveyards, the council has added ‘Stories Behind the Stones’ modules to its existing Heritage Trail app telling the amazing stories of those buried in the cemeteries at Ivanhoe, Wilcannia, Menindee and White Cliffs.
Created by historian and app consultant, Dr Bernadette Drabsch, and Heritage Specialist, Ben Churcher, the modules tell 106 separate stories.
Dr Bernadette Drabsch at White Cliffs Cemetery.
Dr Drabsch told the Grey Nomads that the user-friendly app would be a great fit with grey nomads.
“Rather than focusing on ‘big picture’ history the stories highlight the individuals who created the towns,” she said. “The colourful characters who worked hard and suffered through drought, flood and disease … it also remembers those who left their loved ones behind to fight in distant wars and those who stayed in the towns to keep the country running in their absence.”
The app, which can be found online here or can be downloaded for use in the field from the app stores, is location aware, so all the information will appear on your screen as you approach each stop on the tour.
It took 18 months of painstaking research to create the app, and some of the individual stories uncovered are fascinating. In Menindee cemetery, for example, visitors can learn of the tragic love story of artist, Edward Ford, and illustrator, Helena Scott, who both contracted typhoid fever soon after marrying.
“The bigger picture of events became evident the more research we did,” said Dr Drabsch. “We saw clusters of deaths relating to poor sanitation and bad water in the very early years of White Cliffs, with many children dying of now preventable diseases.”
The researchers also found the drought and heatwaves around 1901 caused a spate of deaths, and there were many drownings because so few people knew how to swim.
“Like today in regional towns, there were also many deaths relating to accidents with animals, guns, machinery and roads,” said Dr Drabsch. “Unfortunately, during the years of drought and depression, there were also many deaths relating to suicide.”
While councils in other areas have developed heritage trail apps, this is believed to be the only one focusing specifically on cemeteries and the stories they contain.
Are you a Grey Nomad member yet? Click here to find out about the discounts, competitions and other benefits on offer.
We stay away from cemeteries on our travels.
It won’t be long until we’ll both be lying in one. LOL.