Sunbury General Cemetery

A memorial wall with rose garden is also available, providing an array of options when considering the memorial and final resting place for your loved ones.

Adding to the serenity of the site, a selection of newly established native plants creates a gentle visual break from the residential homes behind, while new seating takes advantage of the views the cemetery offers and provides a space for visitors to reflect.

Modern developments to the cemetery were designed by landscape architects as part of a major investment in maintaining and developing this site as a cemetery of long-standing significance.

These developments are complementary to the well-established flora on site, with features such as boundary rows of Dutch Elm trees, Monterey Cypresses and Pines, Italian cypress, pepper tree and native sugar gums longstanding features on the grounds.

Graceful English Oak trees, planted in the 1930s, border the main avenue welcoming visitors into the cemetery, which runs the length of the site and links both the historic monumental graves and the modern lawn areas. A recent planting of young oak trees along this avenue brings new growth and the promise of the Sunbury cemetery continuing to maintain its botanical splendour for many years to come.

As rich in history as it is beauty, the Sunbury Cemetery is of local historical and social significance with its memorials of Sunbury’s late citizens dating back to the 19th century.

In 1862 the first 10 acres of the cemetery reserve was gazetted. This was a rectangular piece of land, stretching from the north-west to the south-east.

The first burial was registered on site 5 August 1862. A further 7 burials took place within the year.

In 1880 a further 17 acres was gazetted, adding on to the north-eastern side of the cemetery, this time an oddly shaped piece of land, which shifted the boundary of the cemetery to then front Shields Street. This provided greater access to the site.

By 1886 a four-room cottage had been erected alongside the driveway of the new main entrance, providing residence to the cemetery caretaker. Nearing 80 years on from that time the residence was said to be in poor condition, and it was later demolished.

The Sunbury Cemetery now has a heritage overlay.

Memorials at Sunbury range from beautifully carved marble and granite monuments, to their modern bronze plaque counterparts.

A memorial can be found on site in remembrance of children from the former Sunbury Industrial School (1865 – 1879) buried at Sunbury Cemetery. Many children from the Industrial School were buried at the cemetery, unsurprisingly given the cemetery’s position within the Industrial School reserve, which was gazetted in 1864.

Patients from the Sunbury Asylum and Mental Hospital (1879-1985) and Sunbury Training Centre and Caloola Centre (1964-1992) were also buried on site and have a memorial established in their honour. The memorial was constructed by the Sunbury Cemetery Trust with assistance provided by the friends of Sunbury Public Cemetery Advisory Committee, the Leader Newspaper Group, the Sunbury Family History Society Inc, the Sunbury & District Heritage Association and Sunbury Helping Hand.