Outback Graves Markers
Outback Graves Markers
Region: Goldfields-Esperance
Coordinates: -28.811944, 122.167778
Directions: Shire of Laverton, 31 kilometres southwest of Laverton, Reserve Number 20944. The Cemetery was established in 1897 when the townsite of Mt Margaret was gazetted.
Number of Graves: 18
First Burial: 19 May 1896: Mrs Chapman, wife of a mine manager and Alexander McDonald a miner were having dinner when the ceiling collapsed.
Last Burial: 25 August 1942: John Wade, aged 13 was run over by a tractor-trailer when returning to Warburton from school in Perth on 15 July. Fractured thigh and knee and internal injuries.
AGES AT DEATH
|
Mt Margaret |
|||||
|
0 – 1 |
1 |
20 – 29 |
1 |
60 – 69 |
2 |
|
2 – 5 |
|
30 – 39 |
4 |
70 – 79 |
|
|
6 – 9 |
|
40 – 49 |
1 |
80 + |
|
|
10 – 19 |
1 |
50 – 59 |
1 |
Unknown |
|
OCCUPATIONS
|
Mt Margaret |
|||||||
|
Assayer |
1 |
Cook |
1 |
Miner |
5 |
Watchman |
1 |
|
Baker |
1 |
Hotel keeper |
1 |
Preacher |
1 |
Wife |
1 |
CAUSE OF DEATH
|
Mt Margaret |
|||||||
|
Brights disease |
1 |
Fell down well |
1 |
Run over |
1 |
Typhoid |
2 |
|
Buried alive |
2 |
Hepatic abscesses |
1 |
Shot |
2 |
|
|
|
Enterocolitis |
1 |
Murder |
1 |
Still born |
1 |
||
|
Exhaustion |
1 |
Nephritis |
2 |
Tuberculosis |
1 |
||
Discovery
The first European to visit the area was John Forrest who passed through in 1869 while on an expedition in search of the lost explorer Ludwig Leichhardt. On 25 June he named a nearby hill Mount Margaret after Margaret Elvira Hamersley whom he later married in 1876. The local indigenous name for the hill is Kalgara.
Gold was discovered at the site of the future town in 1893 by prospectors James Ross and Bob McKenzie. The town's main mine was the Mt Morven (formerly the Mt Margaret Reward), situated on the eastern side of the townsite.
Early History
By 1896 the local progress association began campaigning for the townsite to be declared. By 1897 lots had been surveyed and the townsite was gazetted in May of the same year. At first the government were keen to use the Aboriginal name "Kalgara" for the townsite, but decided that locally used name of Mount Margaret should prevail. Other sources say that the town was gazetted as Craiggiemore which was also the name of a mine to the east of the town and also the name of a mine just south of Laverton.
A passenger carrying mail coach was servicing the town in July 1898. A police station opened in the town in 1898 but was closed in 1899.
The Inquire and Commercial News. Fri 21 April 1899
The starting of this township (Mt Morgan)has, to all intents and purposes, put an end to the town of Mount Margaret, which is about eight miles south-east of the mine. There is now a great rush going on from the old town to the new, and the sight can often be witnessed of business premises, shops etc, being taken up holus bolus and moved from Mount Margaret to Mount Morgan. At the last meeting of the licensing bench numbers of applications were received from those desirous of establishing hotels at Mount Morgan, but these were for the most part refused. The present hotel-keepers at Mount Margaret are anxious to get to the new town and, should they obtain their licenses, will have their premises taken down and re-erected at Mount Morgan
The town had declined by 1899 after the rise of nearby Mt Morgans.
The Mt Margaret Aboriginal Community was established in 1921 and is situated 5kms from the original Mt Margaret Townsite and Cemetery.
Mount Margaret Community (formerly Mount Margaret Mission) is a medium-sized Aboriginal community. The community is managed through its incorporated body, Aboriginal Movement for Outback Survival Aboriginal Corporation, incorporated under the Aboriginal Councils and Associations Act 1976 on 12 September 1997.
