Cooktown Cemetery

The text and photographs for this article were written and kindly provided for our use by Ian McCrae, Building Surveyor and Heritage Officer for the Cook Shire Council
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The Cooktown cemetery has been in use since 1874, however internments possibly occurred before this date, burial records between 1874 to 1876 have not been located.
The Cemetery is an interesting example of late nineteenth century planning. The denominational divisions are readily apparent. There are graves, known and unknown which bear witness to the multicultural origins of North Queensland: Aborigines, French, German, Irish. Scots, English,Jews, Chinese and New Zealanders. Whilst there are other cemeteries which show similar cosmopolitan beginnings, their extent in the Cooktown Cemetery is highly significant. Cooktown was, after all, a thriving international port of disembarkation for many years.
The variety of grave materials reflects changing social attitudes to death and, importantly, the availability of materials and changing economic status of Cooktown residents. The choice of materials was clearly governed not by local resources but by the social standards of the time, importation of headstones from other larger regional centres and in one instance, from overseas.
The identifiable graves of the historic section are therefore those of the social elite, those that provided the key services, and those of the gentry. The most poignant aspect of the social significance of the cemetery is that graves of the labourers, carriers, dressmakers, market gardeners, and miners are virtually unmarked.
The cemetery contains many interesting stories, for instance, the remarkable Chinese Shrine, its function not so much a memorial to the Chinese dead, but rather a place of funerary ritual. The small Jewish section, and the Jewish practice of placing a small stone on graves, meaning, you are not forgotten, I have been here and added to your metzeiva(monument).
Gravestone Symbolism is intriguing and can provide insights into the death ethos of the particular era and can enlighten ones visit to the cemetery.