By Garry Howe
THEY say dead people don’t tell tales.
Not so, say members of the Narre Warren Family History Group, who have spent the past few months digging up stories from the historic Harkaway Cemetery in preparation for its next Cemetery Walk there at 10am on Sunday, 30 October.
The group has also produced a book for sale on the day titled Ordinary People, Interesting Lives – chronicling the exploits of 23 local families.
Group member Jane Rivett-Carnac said it was again a fascinating exercise for members, following on from similar World War I tours at Berwick and Pakenham cemeteries.
“We have an Olympian and an Ash Wednesday story,” Ms Rivett-Carnac said.
“There is a woman who lost her husband and two sons in the space of a week, men who tried their luck at the goldfields, farmers and men who served on the Berwick Roads Board, a man who married three times and migrants from Germany, England and Scotland.
“Then there’s Emma’s story, she married at 18 to a man who turned out to be a bigamist and murderer.”
Harkaway cemetery is one of the oldest in Victoria, with land subdivided off what was then known as Zion’s Hill in 1873 to effectively form a family cemetery.
The oldest clear headstone is that of Henrietta Koenig, who died in September 1863.
In 1905 it was gazetted as a public cemetery. The family names include Hillbrich, Kent, Edebohls, Aurish, Wanke, Halleur, Fleer, Koenig, Barr, Nichol, Fritslaff, Barker, Bruhn, Troup, Ramsden, Erdmann, Adamson, Durling, Hessel, Warmbrunn, Cox, Rumpf and Box.
To illustrate the cosmopolitan nature of Harkaway back then, one headstone has three difference languages inscribed into it.
“The man who died was German, his wife was French and their son was born Australian.”
The family of early pioneer Ernst Wanke has had the most to do with the cemetery. Eight family members over five generations have served on the cemetery trust.
