The Albany Memorial Park Cemetery offers a fascinating window on history as the first consecrated cemetery in Western Australia.
Memorial Park Cemetery is now a closed cemetery but was formerly a group of denominational cemeteries which date from the initial gazetted as a public burial ground in 1840 to closure as a public cemetery styled Memorial Park Cemetery in 1959.
The entire cemetery presents as a fascinating visitor experience – the setting, the landscape, the grave markings and the memorials. The graves and memorials commemorate the burials of people over a period of one hundred years and reflect the developing community of a port settlement which began in 1826. This settlement became the town of Albany and finally a city and major regional centre.
Albany Memorial Park Cemetery is composed of two parts, the Lower Cemetery and the Upper Cemetery. It is divided by Middleton Road at the north-east entrance and forms a part of the present day urban core of the City of Albany
The National Trust of Australia (WA) classified the Memorial Park Cemetery in December 2000 and it was placed on the permanent register of the Heritage Council of WA in 2003 and is also included in the Municipal Heritage Inventory of the City of Albany. The cemetery is now under the management of the Albany Cemetery Board and is located at Crown Reserve No. 22406.
In 2011/12 a Grant was received from the Royalties for Regions scheme via the Great Southern Development Commission. The money received was used to stabilise headstones, remove unwanted trees and install an interpretive sign., pulvinar dapibus leo.
Memorial Park Cemetery contains a number of unmarked graves. The Albany Cemetery Board permits a standard marker to be installed at the site of an identified unmarked grave. Applications to install the marker can be made by contacting the Cemetery Administrator
All the burials in the cemetery are significant from the perspective of social history. Many are important for the materials used or for the aesthetic appeal of the tombstones and railings. Many burials are of interest as servicemen, as mariners or as people of high profile in the life of Albany. Most are relevant as ordinary people with no claim to notoriety.
In 2004 the Albany Regional Family History Society decided to combine their records with the Albany History Collection at the Public Library and form a database of records for Memorial Park Cemetery. All care was taken in compiling the records but there were inconsistencies from different sources. Therefore the database is a work in progress and it may contain errors. With that being said it is mostly accurate and a useful source of historical records.
Use the box below to search Memorial Park Cemetery records. Records can also be viewed either at the Albany Public Library in the Albany History Collection section, or at Allambie Park Cemetery.
The following is a selection only, indicative of the rich social and aesthetic experience which is available to visitors of Memorial Park Cemetery:
The Administrator
Albany Cemetery Board
Allambie Park Cemetery
