Back to search results » Back to search page »

LAL LAL HOMESTEAD & HEDDITCH PRIVATE CEMETERY

Other Names

LAL LAL PRIVATE CEMETERY , HEDDITCH PRIVATE CEMETERY

Location

105 BRIDGEWATER LAKES ROAD, CAPE BRIDGEWATER, GLENELG SHIRE

Level

Recommended for Heritage Overlay

Statement of Significance

What is significant?
The Hedditch private cemetery is located near Lal Lal Homestead, off Bridgewater Lakes Road, at Lower Cape Bridgewater. There may have been an intention to create an aesthetic relationship between the original homestead and the cemetery, as the cemetery is tucked into the hills overlooking the homestead. The Hedditch family took up Lal Lal in the early 1850s and remained there until the 1920s.(?) Richard Charlton Hedditch had married Rachel Read in 1837 in England and immigrated to South Australia and thence to Tasmania. In 1841 they settled in Portland working as teachers in the Church of England School associated with St Stephen's. In 1845, they took up the Cape Bridgewater run in conjunction with the Kennedy family. Rachel Hedditch wrote 'Home' describing the difficulties of life at Cape Bridgewater. The Kennedys remained there after the Hedditchs moved to Lal Lal. The cemetery contains nine Hedditch family graves representing three generations. It is intact and in good condition. It can be compared with the Kennedy private cemetery and the Black family vault, near Cork Hill, Lower Cape Bridgewater. In many cases burials continued in the family plot for convenience and sentimental reasons until the practice was disallowed. The public Bridgewater Cemetery was opened in the 1860s and the first known burial dates from 1877.

How is it significant?
The Hedditch cemetery is of historical significance to the Glenelg Shire.

Why is it significant?
The Hedditch private cemetery is of historical significance for its commemoration of an important pioneering family on one of the more significant homesteads in the area, marking not only their dates of birth and death but also their relationships. It demonstrates a desire for permanence in a new land. It also demonstrates an aesthetic sensitivity to the landscape because of the sheltered siting of the graves, which overlooks the homestead. The cemetery represents the ingenuity of early pioneers when disposing of human remains prior to the gazettal of public cemeteries.

Group