Stories behind the Stones: Menindee

To find the Menindee Cemetery, start from the Maiden's Hotel and follow that road around a bend and away from the shops (ie in the opposite direction to the post office). Go straight across the intersection with Menindee Street and continue following Little Menindee Creek Road about 1km out of town, where you will see the cemetery on your left.

The Menindee cemetery contains elaborate monuments and simple tombstones that belong to the local pioneering families from the early days of Menindee, when the town was known as Perry or Menindie, and many more recent.

As you follow our guided walk of the cemetery, you will notice that many children, and some adults, died of diseases such as typhoid, cholera, diphtheria, tuberculosis, enteric fever, and gastroenteritis. These diseases were due to polluted water, particularly in years of drought, and unhygienic environments. While treatable today, in the days of limited health care, these diseases often proved fatal.

Drowning was also common amongst both children and adults, as waters in the Darling River, creeks, and dams often proved fatal to fully clothed people unable to swim. Before the days of bridges, many people had to cross the waterways on foot, horse, or buggy, and after rain, these were often perilous trips. Likewise, on hot days the sand banks and shoals of the river were appealing to children for a refreshing dip, however, tragically, many soon found that the river contains swift moving currents and hidden dangers. Few people learnt how to swim in the early days of British settlement and if they, or their loved ones, were in trouble there was little they could do to save themselves or others.

Like other remote pioneering cemeteries, Menindee cemetery contains many unmarked graves. We know the names of the people buried in some of these, due to the early records that were kept, however, a large number of inscriptions have been lost over the years.

The Menindee cemetery is just one of the cemeteries in the local area, as the larger stations often had their own private cemeteries for the resident families and itinerant workers. Many Aboriginal people were also buried at the Menindee Mission where their graves remain unmarked.

Please walk through this special site with respect to the individuals who lived their lives in the Central Darling and are buried in the red soils of Menindee. Be careful where you place your feet and treat all monuments, new and old, with reverence.

While you walk around, learning the Stories behind the Stones, you will be given directions to the next stop. To simplify these directions, we have presented the tour in rows and the directions refer either to the Darling River (the river) which is on your left as you come through the main gate, or to Little Menindee Creek Road (the road) which is on your right as you come through the main gate. We also refer to rows, with row one being the closest to the front gate. The rows are a bit higgeldy-piggeldy, so sometimes you just have to look at the photo of the grave you are trying to find and use this as a guide! There are three sections to the cemetery: the Presbyterian/Methodist/Uniting section is closest to the front gate, behind this is the Church of England section, then the Catholic section is at the rear.

You can visit each stop on our tour if you like, or if you prefer a shorter visit, just select the people you wish to learn more about from the list function (which is on the top right hand corner of your interface) and make your way directly to their grave.

The information for each stop should come onto your phone automatically when you approach their monument, however, if the GPS function isn't working on your device, you should be able to find the next stop by relying on the directions and photos. Trying to navigate around a cemetery to find one particular grave can be tricky and we have done our best to give clear instructions and navigational aid, but if all else fails, we hope you enjoy the challenge of finding the needle in the haystack!

Please be aware that our stories may contain information that some find upsetting, they also contain photographs of deceased people, including Aboriginal people.

We have tried to present all information in a respectful manner, and we hope that you enjoy learning more about the individuals who shaped the town of Menindee.

Directions: Our first stop is in Row 1, just to the left of the main gate (towards the river) and the grave you are looking for belongs to John 'Jack' Kelly.