The Smeaton Cemetery Trust was encouraged to investigate the number of unmarked graves due to a discrepancy between the figure of 585 registered burials and the number of gravestones in the cemetery. 

Through the use of ground radar technology, the trust was able to uncover 191 unmarked graves in just half of the site.

Smeaton Cemetery Trust chairman Bill May said he believed the majority of the graves dated back as far as the late 1800s. He also said it was practical concerns which had led the trust to begin the search.

“We didn’t want to allocate a plot to someone, only to find out somebody was already buried there,” Mr May said.  

“Typically old country cemeteries also had burials back in the 1800s when people would come into cemeteries at night and bury people for no cost.

“They would have been locals, but many would have been children who died of what are now preventable diseases.” 

The trust will now look to inspect the second half of the cemetery to gain a more accurate understanding of the number of graves on the site. 

Mr May said despite the recent discoveries, it was unlikely the identity of the inhabitants of the unmarked graves would ever be discovered. 

“It will largely remain a mystery as to who they are,” Mr May said.

The project was conducted by the North West Catchment Authority’s drought employment program, which allows drought-affected people to earn off-farm income during times of hardship. 

Community organisations lodge requests with the state government to acquire labour for the projects, which are usually based around conservation and resource management.

Mr May described the task as “hard work”, and said the trust would never have been able to conduct the search on its own.  “It’s really physical work and not something the trust itself could do, and labour costs to do it would be too high.”