WOLLONGONG ADVERTISER
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Illawarra historian Carol Herben has fought for 14 years for the Waterfall General Cemetery to be properly maintained so families can remember the 2000 men, women and children who died from tuberculosis.
She is delighted that Wollongong City Council will retain control of the site near Helensburgh, has committed to managing the dilapidated bush cemetery and will allow the public access at regular open days. Councillors made the decision on July 14.
Mrs Herben spoke at the council’s public access forum and commended the councillors’ work with the families of those buried at the cemetery.
The site, also known as Garrawarra Cemetery, needs to be made safe by clearing the central driveway, removing dead wood and some trees and vegetation that pose a risk to public safety or the conservation of graves. The council will seek state government funding for the work.
Mrs Herben said she was pleased the council were committed to preserving the site because so much history had been buried.
Last year, Mrs Herben helped research the council documentary, Not Forgotten: The Story of Waterfall General Cemetery.
‘‘The cemetery has been isolated for so long and it is very sad because the tuberculosis victims were isolated from their loved ones in their final stages of life,’’ she said.
‘‘There is so much history that has never been told about the Waterfall Cemetery and it has a unique history that deserves to be uncovered.’’
Mrs Herben, OAM, wants the site to remain a bush cemetery, with limited access by the public on commemorative days with a service where families can place flowers on the graves. She said she was pleased NSW’s only TB cemetery would be nominated for state heritage listing.
Through her research, she has recently discovered that two German citizens, Paul Amtmann and Ludwig Mayer, were buried at the cemetery after contracting TB.
The Germans arrived in Australia before World War I and were placed in an internment camp as they were not naturalised Australian citizens. They were confined to the camp but were treated well.
When the men contracted TB they were moved to the Waterfall State Sanatorium. They died in 1915 and 1917 and were buried at Waterfall Cemetery. Their families had their bodies removed in the 1960s and they were taken to Tatura German War Cemetery in Victoria.
Kanahooka resident Robert Muggeridge’s aunt, Gladys Muggeridge, is buried at the cemetery. She died aged 19, in 1927.
Mr Muggeridge, 74, still has the 100-year-old shipping ticket his family used when sailing from London to Australia as well as the certificate of his aunt’s burial issued by the sanatorium cemetery which cost £5, five shillings.
‘‘I support what the Wollongong City Council want to do with the cemetery to leave it as a bush cemetery and allow access to the public on special days of the year,’’ Mr Muggeridge said.
‘‘I hope they receive funding and I would also like to see a memorial wall built with the engraved names of the 2073 victims.’’