The dead come alive at Queenscliff tour

The team behind Geelong’s highly successful “History Alive!” tours of Eastern Cemetery are preparing to expand to the Bellarine this weekend.

The partnership between Geelong Cemeteries Trust and theatre company Drop Of A Hat Productions has seen more than 1,200 people join the walking tours of the Eastern Cemetery in the past year.

Their tour guide was a revitalised cemetery resident, and along the way participants met other unearthed residents standing by their graves, each telling their life stories.

The team will now roll out a new tour of the Queenscliff Cemetery in January.

The new “History Alive – Queenscliff!” tour will be led by Colin Mockett as cemetery resident James Baillieu, in full Victorian costume, explaining how and why the Queenscliff cemetery came to be re-located to Point Lonsdale, as well as revealing a number of the cemetery’s historic and significant graves.

“It’s absolutely fascinating what I found out about the many people buried at Queenscliff,” Colin said.

“Some cemetery residents include the prime minister’s favourite daughter; shipwreck victims and soldiers from the fort. There is also Miss Jones, who drowned at age 18 trying to save the life of the Governor’s daughter; pioneer suffragette Henrietta Dugdale Johnson, first female postmistress Anna Maria Dod and two doctors with very different stories.

“Dr David Williams was physician to the Tzar of Russia and also treated the wounds of the rebels at the Eureka Stockade, while Dr John Birrell is credited with saving more Australian lives than any other.”

The characters are played by well-known regional actors Bryan and Maureen Eaton, Emma Jones, Barry Eeles, Shirley Power and Colin Mockett.

“The History Alive – Queenscliff!” tours are not-for-profit community events organised by the Geelong Cemetery Trust.

Tours will begin on January 13, running for approximately an hour and a half. Tickets are $15.

For more information and to book, phone the Cemetery Trust office on 5249 3939.