Established in 1894, the once thriving goldrush community of 12,500 people boasted a hospital, post office, railway station, 16 hotels and two breweries. But when the alluvial gold ran out in the 1950’s, Kanowna was abandoned and became a ghost town.
In the decades since, the Yarri Road cemetery fell into disrepair, and with the perimeter fence broken, cattle from nearby pastoral stations have been wandering into the site and damaging the gravesites and headstones.
To put a stop to that, a group of minimum-security EGRP prisoners with special approval for supervised community work have been repairing the fence and doing other access restoration and clean-up work.
EGRP Superintendent, John Hedges, said there was still much work to be done, but the prisoners involved enjoyed the work and were proud to be contributing to such a worthy project.
“It’s a win - win situation, with the prisoners giving back to the community in a meaningful way, and at the same time learning new skills as they prepare to reintegrate into society when released,” Superintendent Hedges said.
“For instance, to restore the fence to its original character the prisoners have been granted access to nearby Bardoc Station to source the same native timber used when the cemetery was first built. And as part of that process they all did a chainsaw operator course.
“Other prisoners from the metal workshop have also contributed by making a new pedestrian entry gate which was installed recently.”
Planned future work for the prison team includes installing new pathways through the cemetery using limestone rubble donated by local mining company, Northern Star Resources, and building a bund wall to deflect a watercourse which can cause damage to gravesites.
With the perimeter fence finally secured, the ‘Friends of Kanowna Cemetery’ historical group is now looking at ways to preserve and restore the graves of the 400-plus goldrush pioneers buried there.
Background
- Section 95 of the Prisons Act allows the Commissioner to approve a program of activity for minimum-security prisoners outside the boundary of a prison.
- All prisoners selected for a Section 95 program are carefully screened and assessed as posing minimal risk to the community.
- Section 95 community activities include landscaping and gardening, maintenance work, clean-ups, building restorations and project work.
