The Winchelsea Cemetery had burials as early as 1856, however there are supposedly earlier burials in the township in the vicinity of the Church of England.
There were 9 acres first reserved in 1859. In 1865 it was properly surveyed and layed out in denominatons. Trees, shrubs and flowers were also planted to beautify the area. In 1887, another 8 acres was reserved.
Just a few months after the cemetery was first reserved a man named Wesley Anderson died. His body was taken to the Winchelsea cemetery for burial; however the trustees of the cemetery agreed that he could not be buried in the cemetery, because he was black. As aboriginals were not allowed to be buried in their relatively new cemetery. So they buried him just outside the cemetery with no headstone. When his wife died forty years later, she was buried in the cemetery and has a headstone to mark her resting place. The actual site of Wesley’s burial can no longer be identified. However...Wesley wasn't aboriginal, he was African-American who came to Australia in 1839. Wesley was a son of slave, and was born in Pennsylvania about 1821.
It was Wesley that discovered coal in Wensleydale, and was mined for almost 100 years.