Family and pioneer cemeteries
Council has many historical and private family cemeteries throughout the Clarence Valley.
| Baldwin Cemetery | Baryulgil Aboriginal Cemetery | Taloumbi Station Cemetery | Woodford Island - Smalls Cemetery | Sarah Philips Grave Site | Hepburn Grave | Fry Street Pioneer Park | Lankeys Creek Graves | Lionsville Bassetti Grave | Munt Family Grave | Taylors Grave | Sunnyside Cemetery | Wattle Creek Grave | Yulgilbar Hamilton Graves | Coaldale Graves | Iluka Cemetery | Dalmorton Cemetery | Yamba Cemetery | Return to Cemetery Home Page |
Council has many historical and private family cemeteries throughout the Clarence Valley. The family and pioneer cemeteries on this page have been complied from known records that council staff have researched. Council is committed to continually improving and updating this information as it becomes available. Please click on the above link to the navigate to the cemetery you require.
BALDWIN CEMETERY 
Yates Flat Copmanhurst NSW 2460
Baldwin family Cemetery overlooks Cleveland Plains and is near Cleveland Crossing otherwise known as Yates Flats. It is visible from the Clarence way and is surrounded by white post and rail fence. The first person buried was Don Baldwin in 1955 and his memorial takes the form of a tablet mounted on a desk.
There are 5 graves in the Cemetery
Frank Baldwin 1971
BARYULGIL ABORIGINAL CEMETERY
Located near Joseph's Creek, at the end of the airstrip on Yulgilbar Station, this cemetery only contains the graves of aboriginal people. It is not know when this cemetery was first used or when the cemetery was fenced. Until the 1940's Aboriginal people were buried elsewhere on Yulgilbar Station.
The cemetery is located on land owned by the Yulgilbar Pastoral Company and access is only permitted with approval from the Company. It is enclosed by a timber fence and an entrance gateway is carved with the words Baryulgil Cemetery. Within the cemetery grounds is a seating area with an obvious Aboriginal design. Simple slat seats lie between timber poles, which have been painted in red & black stripes.
The Baryulgil Aboriginal Cemetery is significant for its association with the Aboriginal people at the Square and Yulgilibar Station. It is a rare example of a recent Aboriginal Cemetery and the cemetery is still in use.
TALOUMBI STATION CEMETERY
Taloumbi Station contains a private family cemetery indicating the early occupation of this property by the Waugh family and associated employees. The family cemetery is located on the southern side of the present driveway leading to the house. The genera area is grassed but behind the graves are mature trees such as bunya pines. There are no headstones graves are marked by simple wooden crosses.
The Small family cemetery is the private burial ground of an extremely early Clarence River branch of a First Fleet Family. The cemetery consisting of two fenced sections situated in a low knoll on the bank of the South Arm of the Clarence River on Woodford Island near the site of the original Small homestead. The area is currently in private ownership area is surrounded by cane fields and not visible from the main road. The section nearest to the river is fenced by a modern piping fence and contains four headstones relating to members of the Small family. It is believed the plot was fenced buy Maclean Shire Council about 1972.
Earliest burial is believed to be Mrs C Chowne 1855 (mother of Matilda Small who died in 1860)
ILARWILL GRAVE SITE
Located in a field in front of the Ilarwill quarry and just off Golf Link's Road are three simple timber crossed. There are no headstones or grave surrounds.
SARAH PHILIPS GRAVE SITE
While the exact location of the grave site on 166 Pateman's Road has not been determined it is believed to be the oldest grave site in the Lower Clarence. It should be remembered that at this time the lower river was uninhabited by Europeans. Yamba did not have a pilot until 1854 when the settlement of Yamba began.
HEPBURN GRAVE
FRY STREET PIONEER PARK
Pioneer Park is historically significant as the site of the first Lutheran cemetery in Grafton. It still contains one headstone in memory of Christina Ross, wife of Archibald McLucas of Woodford Island. It is believed the first burial took place there in 1844. When the general cemetery was later opened in Villiers Street in 1859 a number of headstones were moved to this location.
The Grafton Sesquicentenary celebrations in 2010 included a major project to commemorate and remember the Pioneers of the Clarence Valley. A sensory garden was developed and included the construction of an arbor (pergola structure) with wisteria planted to eventually create a colourful roof over the gravesites.
Also as part of the project, the garden includes memorial plaques honouring the pioneers of the Valley. If wishing to remember an ancestor who contributed to the growth of the Valley you may order a plaque by downloading the application form from this link. Criteria for "pioneer" must be matched for the application to be approved.
LANKEYS CREEK GRAVES
This family graveyard is locally significant but its association with the district is not well known.
A rough post and timber rail fence surrounds the grave of baby John James Harps. The sandstone steale is semicircular and is set straight into the ground. A wood en cross is also attached to the fence and is thought to have been erected over one oh the other graves. Agnes West and Margaret Prestly are thought to have been buried here. Two substantial gum trees are now growing in the fenced grave site.
LIONSVILLE BASSETTI GRAVE
Bassetti grave is a significant reminder of gold mining and the influence of Italian miners.
About one kilometre from Lionsville at the top of a ridge is the lone grave of John Bassetti (1905). The cement slab surrounds are enclosed by an ornate cast iron fence, square cast iron motifs are topped with short pickets which contain the heads of three Fler de Lys. The grave is in good condition and is thought to be maintained by family members.
MUNT FAMILY GRAVE
Located on the eastern side of Trenayr Road. A railway culvert on the opposite side of the road bears the number 7019-825. While close to the road the site is difficult to find because it is obscured by the growth of lantana and other weeds. The grave site contains a concrete block at the head of the grave and the original marble steale is now cemented onto the grave. It is surrounded by a timber rail fence, which is in need of repair.
There are three people buried at this site.
Charles Munt 11th July 1898 aged 69 his wife Helen Munt died 22 November 1909 aged 76 years and Hilda Laws their granddaughter who died 15th January 1902 aged 11 months.
TAYLORS GRAVE
The grave site of Rupert Taylor a miner who lived with his brother in bark huts on open grassland who was buried in 1933 or 1934. The lone grave is difficult to find as it is covered in badly grass and no evidence of bark huts is evident.
Extract from "A history of Coutts Crossing & Nymboida Districts" Volume Two (1988)
WATTLE CREEK GRAVE
A white timber fence surrounds the graves of Jessie Brown who died 12th November 1932 and Robert brown who died 26th June 1914. The graves can be seen on a distant slope from Wattle Creek Road.
Extract from "A history of Coutts Crossing & Nymboida Districts" Volume Two (1988)
YULGILBAR HAMILTON GRAVES
Located on the western bank of the Clarence River just beyond the old Lionsville Solferino Road river crossing. Three graves are marked with three similar cast iron headstones. The inscriptions on the cast iron headstones are Ellen Hamilton died Sept 1889 aged 73 years (no death records have been found to support these dates) middle headstone John Hamilton died 3 March 1893 aged 82 years (Johns details are confirmed by records held at Grafton Court House) and the northern headstone Theodore Christian George Frank Melemann died 5 Jan 1903 aged 53 years (this has also been confirmed by records held at Grafton Court House).
COALDALE GRAVES
The private grave site is visible from the Coaldale Road and stand in the middle off a grazing paddock on the eastern side of the road. A wrought iron fence surrounds two headstones. The site is thought to connate the graves of Isaac Brown died 18 September 1908 and Sarah Brown.
2243 Coaldale Road
The family grave is located on Ridgedale Farm. The site contains five graves, four are members of the Brown family and the fifth is that of John Casson (d 1897) father of Elizabeth Brown. There is only one marble headstone which is inscribed to the memory of Elizabeth Reed (d 1913) and Joseph Brown (d 1914). This grave is surrounded by a painted wrought iron picket fence. Two of John & Elizabeth's grandchildren Linda May Brown (d 1909) and Ellis Joseph Robert (d 1898) are the other two graves.
ILUKA CEMETERY
The Iluka Cemetery has been subdivided into a lot of about .3 ha and is believed to contain three bodies. The graves are thought to be located on the crest of a small sand dune about 20 metres off the northern side of Elizabeth Street. The site of the graves is covered with scrub vegetation. Only one grave is marked with a wooden cross and it bears the name of Earnest Eaton. Graves are not visible from the road. A memorial wall is located on the same side of the road about 100 metres away.
Extract from "A history of Coutts Crossing & Nymboida Districts" Volume Two (1988)
YAMBA CEMETERY
The Yamba Cemetery is located on Rocky Laurie Drive adjacent to Pippie Beach with 30 burials, there are no visible headstones or monuments.
The cemetery was divided into a number of religious portions as follows:-
Until 1957 Yamba town was part of the Shire of Harwood. It was then incorporated in the amalgamated Shire of Maclean now Clarence Valley Council.
The plan of the "General Cemetery, Town of Yamba, County of Clarence" is signed by the surveyor, Hamilton Fisher, who notes that he submitted it to the District Surveyor with a covering letter on 14th October 1899. It is also stated that the land is dedicated under Section 104 of the Crown Lands Act of 1884 on the 6th October 1891. The date of cancellation is not given but it must have been some time after 1927 when the last person was buried there, one Thomas Hutchings aged 55. The cemetery was in use from the earliest days since the first name recorded as having been buried there was if a John Miley aged 40 who interred in 1860.
Alice Baldwin 1979 ( 8 years)
Norman Baldwin 1991
Gladys Baldwin 1999
Yulgilbar Station.
1101 Brooms Head Road
Taloumbi Maclean NSW 2463
South Arm Road
Woodford Island Maclean NSW 2463
The cemetery is historically significant for its association with the early European settlement of the Lower Clarence River.
Golf Links Road
Ilarwill Maclean NSW 2463
166 Pateman's Road
Ashby NSW 2463
Lionsville Road
Lionsville NSW 2460
Fry Street
Grafton NSW 2460 
Lankeys Creek Road
Coaldale NSW 2460
Solferine Road
Lionsville NSW 2460
610 Trenayr Road
Trenayr NSW 2460
Enfield Flat Nogrigar Creek
Solferino NSW 2460
Wattle Creek Road
Barretts Creek NSW 2460
Lionsville Road
Yulgilbar NSW 2460
2138 Coaldale Road
Coaldale NSW 2460
Coaldale NSW 2460
Elizabeth Street
Iluka NSW 2466
Rocky Laurie Drive
Yamba NSW 2464
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