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Coburg Cemetery

Location

Bounded by Bell, Elizabeth, Booth and James Streets,, PRESTON VIC 3072 - Property No B7345

File Number

B7345

Level

Regional

Statement of Significance

What is significant? The Coburg Cemetery is located on a prominent hillside landscape in the Merri Creek Valley. Throughout the cemetery there is a large range of monument types, though the smaller or less grand versions dominate, reflecting the essentially working-class nature of the local community. Among the most interesting monuments are those that commemorate the Labor members of parliament and trade union leaders. The cemetery has fine entrance gates, ornate timber pillars on Bell Street and cypress and palm plantings.
How is it significant? The Coburg Cemetery is significant for aesthetic/architectural, historic, social, scientific/ technical reasons at a Regional level.
Why is it significant? Coburg Cemetery, established in 1860, is a significant Melbourne burial ground. The scale and modesty of its monuments and facilities displays the values ofthe predominately working-class community it has served. The cemetery boasts a number of notable Labor memorials, including those of Labor members of parliament, John Andrew Arthur, William Guthrie Spence and Joseph Francis Hannan, while those to unionists include Laurence Cohen, Richard Henry Gill and Archibald Stewart. Other notable graves include those of legendary Collingwood Football Club coach James Francis 'Jock' McHale and American Civil War soldier James Abner Sherman. The cemetery is also of interest as a prominent hillside landscape in the Merri Creek Valley and for its fine entrance gates and ornate timber pillars on Bell Street and cypress and palm plantings.
Classified: 26/02/07

Group