Seeking stories of city-shaping women

IN 2017, the Ballarat New Cemetery turned one hundred and fifty years old.

Looking back on the organisation’s history, CEO Annie De Jong said Ballarat Cemeteries Trust had lots of information about men who “created the fabric” of Ballarat and were buried at their sites, but not so many about women.

“I wanted to tell the stories of women. Cemeteries are the keepers of lots of social stories of the people in our town, so we launched a project to get 150 stories of the women in our cemetery, who shaped and built Ballarat,” she said.

Years later, they have 95 women’s stories on their website, with another 20 yet to post, and they’re seeking more.

“We’ll never stop, but it would be really nice within the next month to have another 30. We would love to turn it into a self-guided tour.

“We want stories of any women in our cemeteries who have contributed to our society and the community that Ballarat is today,” Ms De Jong said.

“For example, we have a couple of the Lucas girls, Emma-Kate McGrath who died of meningococcal disease and inspired the 4EK Foundation, and Joan Chambers whose mission in life was to raise awareness of the Uniting Church selling off churches.”

Ms De Jong encourages people to find the eulogy of a special woman buried at Ballarat Cemeteries, and share stories from it with the Trust, whether enough to fill half a page, or is just a paragraph.

“We love it when we get a picture,” she said.

“We do ask people to approve that we can feature them in a tour, and share the information online, on our website, and on Facebook.”

Contact 5332 1469 if you have stories to share. Visit bit.ly/3nX1NYt to read the information gathered so far.