A compelling journey of discovery awaits you at West Terrace Cemetery. Encounter the remarkable human stories of courage and heartbreak, struggle and success as you weave your way through this unique State Heritage listed cemetery.

Discover the origins of South Australia’s multicultural heritage. 

On this tour you will see South Australia’s history through the eyes of the people who helped shape it. Imagine the world they inhabited and the lives they led. Share the hopes, ideals and tragedies of prominent citizens and everyday people.

As Adelaide’s principal cemetery for almost 100 years, historic West Terrace Cemetery brings together one of the most complete histories of the State, from colonisation to present day. 

Walk the same roads and paths that 19th century South Australians walked, and immerse yourself in the captivating and long-forgotten stories of the State’s early pioneers, notable figures and controversial characters.

Among the people you will meet are international composer Percy Grainger; political icon Charles Cameron Kingston; women’s suffrage campaigner Mary Colton; decorated war hero Arthur Seaforth Blackburn; and campaigner for women’s working rights Augusta Zadow. 

This is only the beginning: the Heritage Highlights interpretive trail covers just a handful of the stories and secrets of the 150,000 people buried at West Terrace Cemetery.

Heritage Highlights Self-Guided Tour

How to Use This Guide

## Connecting Australia with the world

> **Look closer:** The broken column that adorns this memorial is a symbol of a life cut short.

\-

The telegraph was the communications revolution of the mid 19th century. Messages that once took months to travel over land and sea could now be transmitted via telegraph in a matter of hours.

Building the trans-continental telegraph also offered an opportunity to open up Australia’s interior: allowing further settlement, expansion of agriculture, and the exploitation of mineral resources. There was fierce competition between the colonies to secure a route for the telegraph, and reap the benefits that would flow from it.

South Australia secured its position by sponsoring John McDouall Stuart’s 1861 cross-continental expedition and annexing the Northern Territory in 1863.

The chosen route for the telegraph, mapped by explorer John Ross, closely followed Stuart’s path - linking Adelaide to Darwin and from there via a submarine cable to the rest of the world.

The construction of the 3,200 km line took a mere 18 months. This epic feat was one of the greatest engineering achievements of the era.

The first official message was transmitted on 22 August 1872.

## Tragedies along the telegraph line

***A turning point in colonist-Indigenous relations***

This monument commemorates the lives of telegraph workers killed and injured during incidents at Barrow Creek in February 1874 and Roper River in June 1875.

The wording of the memorial says a lot about colonists’ attitudes to Indigenous people at the time.

When explorers first passed through Australia’s centre, they reported friendly interactions with Aboriginal groups, but these were only fleeting encounters. Relations became more complex when the telegraph line indicated a more permanent European presence. The two cultures often misunderstood each other, leading to mutual mistrust that sometimes escalated into violent attacks and reprisals.

The Barrow Creek attack was the first such incident at a telegraph station. The ability to transmit events as they unfolded, including the dying James Stapleton tapping out a farewell message to his distraught wife, created a sensation at the time.

Written history only reports the European perspective of these skirmishes, so we cannot know for sure exactly what chain of events culminated in the incidents memorialised by this monument.

Overland Telegraph Monument

## An artistic talent unrecognised in his lifetime

The name Horace Trenerry may be virtually unknown outside of artistic circles, but critics have compared his talent with that of Van Gogh and Monet. 

Adelaide-born Trenerry moved to the Adelaide Hills as a young adult and developed a friendship with Hans Heysen, who was to have an important influence on his work. 

One of Trenerry’s earliest works, Hay Stooks, won a gold star medal from the Royal Drawing Society in London in 1920. But besides this, he received little other recognition in his lifetime. 

Ternerry’s works capture the ever-changing landscapes of the Adelaide Hills, Flinders Ranges and Fleurieu Peninsula. Modern critics praise his use of colour and distinctive style of chalky, boldly designed images; placing him among the finest Australian landscape painters of his time. 

Trenerry died from Huntington’s Chorea, aged 59, in poverty and anonymity. 

After his death, two of Trenerry’s works were included in the Tate Gallery’s exhibition of Australian painting in 1962-63, belatedly giving him the recognition he deserved.

Horace Hurtle Trenerry (1899–1958)

## Merchant and Chinese community leader

> **Look closer:** Way Lee is one of the few 19th century Chinese migrants that remain buried at West Terrace Cemetery. The remains of many Chinese nationals were repatriated to China during the 1930s.

\-

Chinese-born Way Lee immigrated to Sydney in 1874. By 1878 he had established Way Lee & Co, an importing business in Adelaide, and soon had trading interests across Australia.

Way Lee was well respected in South Australian business circles, but had to battle constantly against widespread anti-Chinese sentiment and discrimination.

Many European Australians wanted a ‘White Australia’. They feared large-scale Asian immigration, and resented Chinese labourers toiling in the goldfields for long hours and little pay. Anti-Chinese leagues were common, and Chinese people were denied many rights routinely granted to Europeans. They were also subjected to additional taxes and restrictions on movement.

Way Lee used his influence to rally against the poor treatment of his countrymen. He campaigned for better education and improved conditions for Chinese migrants, tried to facilitate inter colonial travel for the Chinese and called for restrictions on the importation and use of opium. He also promoted international trade, correctly predicting the strong trading relationship that Australia and China share.

Yett Soo War Way Lee (1852-1909)

## Media magnate, politician and philanthropist

John Langdon Bonython joined the Advertiser at the age of 16, initially as a reporter. He steadily worked his way up the ranks until he made Editor at the age of 36; a position he held until his retirement at age 81. 

Bonython became very wealthy through successful speculation in mining. This allowed him to purchase the Advertiser in 1893, making him both Editor and sole proprietor. He became a very influential figure. Under Bonython’s leadership, the Advertiser grew to be South Australia’s most prominent daily newspaper. 

Bonython was also a supporter of the Federation movement, and used his influence to popularise Federation, safeguard the rights of the smaller states, and promote the interests of South Australian business. 

In 1901 he was elected to the House of Representatives in the first Federal Parliament, retiring from politics in 1906. 

Throughout his life, Bonython donated large sums to several causes. His largest single donation was £100,000 towards the completion of Parliament House in 1934. 

On his death he was one of Australia’s richest men.

Sir John Langdon Bonython (1848–1939)

Tread Lightly

## Internationally renowned musician and composer

As a promising teen prodigy, Percy Grainger left his Melbourne home to further his musical studies in Germany. He was accompanied by his mother, Adelaide-born Rose Aldridge. In 1901 they moved to London, where Grainger was feted as a concert pianist and toured across Europe. 

While in London, he began to collect English folk songs. His piano arrangement of Country Gardens became a runaway success. But Grainger grew to detest the song. He believed its popularity drew attention away from his more important but less commercial work as a renowned international concert pianist and contemporary composer and arranger.

In 1914 he moved to America, where he spent the rest of his life pursuing diverse artistic interests that reflected his eclectic tastes. His experiments with new musical forms included a mechanical music machine that was regarded as a crude forerunner to the synthesiser. 

After Grainger’s death his wife Ella, a Swedish-born artist, instructed that his remains be returned to the Aldridge family plot, where he was reunited with his much-loved mother. 

The Grainger Museum in Melbourne remains a testament to his independent spirit, wide-ranging career and diverse interests.

Percy Aldridge Grainger (1882-1961)

## **As Adelaide’s main public cemetery for almost 100 years, people from all walks of life were buried at West Terrace Cemetery, bringing together the many threads of South Australia’s rich heritage in one place.**

West Terrace Cemetery dates back to the foundation of South Australia. It was established in 1837 on land set aside in Colonel William Light’s original plan for the City of Adelaide. Since then, more than 150,000 burials have taken place.

The cemetery is renowned for its ornate monuments, historic burial sites and some of the last remaining indigenous vegetation of the Adelaide Plain. It is also the site of Australia’s first dedicated military burial ground and for 22 years contained the country’s only crematorium.

In recognition of the cemetery’s historic value, it was listed as a Place of State Heritage Significance in November 1989.

The first recorded interment occurred in 1840 when formal cemetery records commenced. It is estimated that more than 500 burials occurred prior to this.

## The Constant Threat of Closure

For much of its early history, West Terrace Cemetery provoked considerable public and religious debate. There were frequent controversies, accusations of mismanagement and threats of closure.

Many of Adelaide’s early citizens objected on public health grounds to having a cemetery so close to the city. People were quick to blame it for any outbreak of disease or foul odour emanating from the city’s south-west.

As early as the 1880s, West Terrace Cemetery was considered too small to keep up with the demands of a growing population. Several alternative sites for a new cemetery were put forward, but no agreement was reached.

Prior to 1861 there was no systematic approach to burials and record keeping. The cemetery’s burials prior to 1840 were not accurately recorded and remain unknown.

Defending themselves from the backlash, early cemetery sextons complained they were deprived of the resources needed to run the cemetery properly.

## Denominational Division

The distinctive denominational division of West Terrace Cemetery began in 1843, when a separate area was granted to the Jewish community. Over time, exclusive sections for Catholics, Quakers, Mohammedan/Afghan and Syrian Druses have been allocated.

The cemetery’s division reflected the wishes of certain religious groups to manage their own affairs. But it saddled the cemetery with the issue of divided management, and attracted opposition from those religious groups against the introduction of an established Church to the Colony.

## Monumentation & Symbolism

The remarkable diversity of monuments at West Terrace Cemetery reflects heavily the prevailing beliefs, attitudes and traditions of nineteenth century society. They also serve as a document of the social, cultural and demographic changes in South Australia.

As attitudes toward death and burial changed so did monumental design, giving way to larger, more complex monuments. Such grand and imposing headstones were mainly confined to the prominent and wealthy, while those unable to pay for a funeral suffered the anonymity of an unmarked grave.

## Natural Heritage

West Terrace Cemetery has provided a refuge for more than 20 rare and endangered native plant species that have long been cleared from the Parklands and Adelaide Plain. These include:

•         Quandong (Santalum acuminatum)

•         Mallee Box (Eucalyptus porosa)

•         Native Apricot (Pittosporum phylliraeoides)

•         Umbrella Wattle (Acacia ligulata)

·         Black-Anther Flax-Lily (Dianella revoluta)

•         Berry Saltbush (Atriplex semibaccata)

The remnant vegetation is an important part of South Australia’s biodiversity, with seed collection programs conducted by various institutions to re-introduce these species to their original habitat.

There are also many introduced species, reflecting different cemetery planting practices and fashions over time – mainly cypresses, pines, elms, olives and palms.

## A Brief History of West Terrace Cemetery

**1837**

Surveyor-General, Colonel William Light and his survey team planned the City of Adelaide; 32 acres on the south-western fringe are allocated for a cemetery. John Monck was appointed the cemetery’s first sexton by Colonial Chaplin Charles Beaumont Howard (1807-1843).

**1839**

A Board of Trustees is appointed to oversee the cemetery’s management.

**1843**

A Jewish section is established. This is the first of the cemetery’s denominational divisions.

**1845**

A Catholic Cemetery is established on land adjacent to the northern boundary of the main public cemetery. It had its own entrance and was initially fenced off from the original cemetery.

**1854**

Captain Arthur Henry Freeling, Surveyor-General (1849-1861), set out a plan for the cemetery’s main roads and paths, bringing order to the cemetery and forming the layout we see today.

**1871**

Smyth Memorial Chapel is built as a memorial to the Very Reverend Father John Smyth.

**1903**

Australia’s first purpose-built crematorium is opened.

**1904**

The unused northeastern portion of the cemetery is returned to parkland in exchange for 20 acres to the west of the original cemetery site, taking the western border of the cemetery as far as the railway line. This is the most significant change to the size and layout of the cemetery.

**1920**

Australia’s first dedicated military burial ground, the Australian Imperial Forces (AIF) Cemetery is established.

**1959**

The Adelaide Crematorium ceases operations

**1976**

The West Terrace Cemetery Act brings the whole cemetery under Government control. Prior to this, sections of the cemetery were administered by the various religious denominations.

**1979**

Plans were approved to convert West Terrace Cemetery back to a memorial park, returning the area to parkland. New plantings commenced as early as 1976. This plan was abandoned and the cemetery continues to operate.

**1996**

The Baby Memorial is unveiled to mark the burial of stillborn and infant babies buried from the 1920s to the 1980s.

**2010**

The Caroline Clark Memorial Garden is created to commemorate the lives of those buried in unmarked graves.

The Wakefield section, the first area of unused land to be developed for burial since 1944, is released.

**2019**

The Smyth Chapel undergoes extensive refurbishment

**2020**

The Promenade, the last remaining area of unused land within the cemetery, was developed and opened. Adjacent the Curators Cottage, this area previously housed a toilet block and chicken shed.