Stories dating back more than a hundred years are being retold through a research project on the Sunshine Coast.
Historian Dr Lisa Murray has combed the cemeteries of the region and is now sharing their secrets.
Through the Sunshine Coast Council-funded Historian in Residence program, Dr Murray uncovered the history of the area’s public cemeteries and their relationship to each other.
Her research looked at how cemeteries were managed, by whom, rules and regulations, cost of burials, the craftsmen behind the memorials and more.
The study involved all 19 Sunshine Coast cemeteries and looked at three specific areas, the evolution and histories of the cemeteries as well as the best cemeteries to experience funerary culture, landscape and nature.
Dr Murray also examined monumental stone masons, noting that some monumental masons signed their work – part craftsman’s signature, part advertisement.
She found the location of signatures varied with signatures found at the bottom of the headstone, on the plinth or stone base of memorials, or on the concrete grave enclosure.
The study found that by the 1920s many monumental masons were attaching little tin labels to the concrete enclosure, rather than incising or stamping their name in the concrete.
Dr Murray discovered the monumental mason whose signed work was most widely represented in Sunshine Coast’s cemeteries was Andrew Lang Petrie (1854-1928) from Brisbane, who was the first son of John Petrie (1822-1892) and a third-generation monumental mason.
He worked in Helidon sandstone, white marble (mainly imported from Carrara, Italy) and red and grey granite and his work can be found all over south-east Queensland.
Sunshine Coast Council Strong Community Portfolio Councillor David Law said the research conducted through the Historian in Residence program was invaluable to better understanding the region’s heritage.
“The Arts and Heritage Levy has enabled eight historians to undertake a deep dive into the unknown Sunshine Coast,” Cr Law said.
“We’re now looking for the next cohort of qualified and experienced historians and invite them to submit their research topics for consideration.”
Cr Law said the historians would be based at the Heritage Library in Nambour and either Bankfoot House Heritage Precinct or Landsborough Museum.
