Located in rural bushland, Booyal Cemetery is a lasting legacy of the developing settlement of the district in the early 20th century.
Listed on Bundaberg Regional Council’s Register of Local Heritage Places, Booyal Cemetery is a relatively remote heritage site on German Charlies Road, five kilometres northeast of the Bruce Highway at Booyal.
Closer settlement of the Booyal district began in 1872 and was stimulated by the extension of the railway from Childers to Cordalba in 1896.
Booyal Provisional School was opened in 1905, and Booyal was connected by rail to the Cordalba branch line in 1913.
This extension of the railway connected the area to the Isis Central Mill and promoted the farming of sugar cane in the Booyal and Dallarnil district.
A small town developed around the railway station with a state school opened in 1916, the Booyal Hall in 1918 and the Booyal branch of the Queensland Country Women’s Association was established in 1927.
The cemetery reflects the diverse national and cultural origins of the people who settled in the Booyal district including England, Germany, Russia, Slavic region, potentially Ukraine and Denmark.
The earliest burial in the Booyal Cemetery appears to date from 1901, however news reports from 1905 and 1906 indicate that the current cemetery location was not officially recognised at that time, with Booyal locals forming a cemetery committee to progress the issue.
The cemetery was officially gazetted by the State government in 1929 when the Booyal branch of the QCWA made it their objective to achieve this recognition.
By the time it was gazetted, the cemetery was already in established use.
One notable local buried in the cemetery was John Laynton, who’s funeral in 1919 was reported to have been attended by a very large number of residents.
Mr Laynton was a pioneer of the Booyal area who took up land in 1894 and grew citrus on his farm along the Burnett River, providing early proof that the location was suitable for citrus production.
Several members of the Onoprienko family, early pioneers of the district who farmed sugar cane, are buried in the cemetery.
Bushland Location
The cemetery occupies only a small portion of a larger bushland lot of approximately three hectares and consists of a cleared and levelled area, surrounded with a timber post and four-wire fence.
There is a small number of marked graves, which are set towards the rear of the cleared site and arranged in rows that are grouped according to denomination and ethnicity.
Most graves are surrounded by a concrete or rendered brick border, with one site featuring decorative corner elements.
Grave markers are predominantly desk mounted tablets, and there are also two stone and two timber crosses.
There are remnants of what appears to have been an elaborate timber grave surround, and some sites are marked with rectangular embossed metal plates.
One site is decorated with natural plants including bromeliads and a small frangipani tree creating a stark contrast to the bush setting of the cemetery.
The Booyal Cemetery is important in demonstrating the evolution of the region’s history, particularly the development of settlement in the area following the extension of the railway and the proximity to Isis Central Mill for sugar cane production.
The cemetery’s relative remoteness prompts reflection about the changing economic and settlement patterns of the region, as much of the fabric of the former town is no longer in evidence.
Booyal Cemetery continues to have a special association with the Booyal community, demonstrated by its continuous use as a burial place for the district for more than one hundred years.
