Historic records come home

PORTARLINGTON genealogist and historian Natalie Smith was rummaging through a pile of documents in a back shed when she uncovered a long-lost Heathcote cemetery register.

She had accompanied her husband on a hunt for tools after seeing a post on the Bellarine Freecycle Facebook group.

“The lady said we’ve got some wood-working machinery out in the shed,” Ms Smith said.

“While he was looking at it, I saw this pile of stuff…there was a whole lot of old bibles and all these other things, and I was told I could take anything I wanted.”

The cemetery register caught her eye because of its age.

“It was old and that attracted me,” she said, “I knew how valuable it would be to the people of Heathcote because it has so much information in it.”

“I had to get it back to Heathcote.”

Ms Smith posted a call-out on the Heathcote Town Crier Facebook group and within an hour had found someone about to travel from the Bellarine Peninsula to Heathcote.

The register is now part of the Heathcote McIvor Historical Society’s archives and spokesperson Elizabeth Murfitt said it was welcome addition to their collection.

“We’re thrilled that she’s donated it to us,” Ms Murfitt said.

“It’s the Heathcote Cemetery burial papers from 1913 to 1918 and they have a lot of details.

“It will come in very handy with our research.”