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Grave Concerns at Budgerum Traditional Geocache

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Kaneira: Will be unable to maintain in future.

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Hidden : 11/1/2013
Difficulty:
1.5 out of 5
Terrain:
1.5 out of 5

Size: Size:   small (small)

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Geocache Description:

An easy park and grab at a lonely cemetery. For a real challenge open the gate and enter and look for the three graves! You are seeking a 500ml screw-top container. Beware of Joe Blakes!


In the 1880s Budgerum was the hub of this district and in 1881 the school had an enrolment of 45 pupils. The extension of the railway through nearby Quambatook sealed Budgerum's fate however and by 1897 the school was closed.

The cemetery opened in 1883 and closed in 1904 when the Quambatook Cemetery opened. There are no burial records in existence and just three headstones remain. No burials took place after 1903. A note in a file held by DHS - Cemeteries Unit records that the remains of several people buried here were disinterred and removed to the Quambatook cemetery. In 1940 the Shire of Kerang noted "there were about forty graves in the cemetery, many of which contain the remains of some of the old pioneers of this district".

The three marked graves are:

  • Grace Usher, wife of John Usher who died 6 November, 1898. (Grace Gully born at Moliagul, married John Bernard Usher at Arnold's Bridge and died aged 41 years. The couple had six children.)
  • Alfred Davis, husband of Frances Mary Davis who died 29 August 1903. (Alfred Davis was born at Majorca and married Frances Mary Adamthwaite. They had six children and died aged 35 years). There is also a plaque for Jessie Emma Day, died 22 June 1983 aged 81.
  • A wooden headboard with no visible writing.

Research indicates the following are buried here: Thomas Browne, aged 16, died 1898; John Maquire, aged 68, died 1898; Frederick MacDonald died 1898; Charles Hugh Walter Monk, aged 2, died 1903.

Just inside the gate is a granite memorial to the memory of the earliest pioneers, placed by relatives and citizens in 1952. The quotation on the memorial, which reads, "Green they saw the harvest ere the day they died" is from The Grey Company by New Zealand poet Jessie Mackay (1864-1958).

Information derives from David Weatherill for the Australian cemeteries website.

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Abg vafvqr. Pbapergr guvaxvat jvyy uryc.

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)