Lost Things, Yet to be Found...

The Cassilis cemetery is a special place for many. It is also in flux. Possibly visited more by people who had loved ones and acquaintances buried in that ground when Cassilis was thriving because gold was being ripped from the ground in any way possible. Processed to make money for individuals that sat in fancy restaurants and boardrooms all over Australia. The trustees have working bees to keep it reasonably maintained while they also try to go about their own lives and attempt to discover more about the people who lived in the area during those days on enterprise, which destroyed much of the landscape.

The people who buried family and friends in the cemetery were not people who lived in the Cassilis region because it was a great place to be, or marvellous for their children. It was because they were trying to make money, and as much money as they could while the gold was coming out of the earth. Once the gold ran out, so did the people, leaving much of what they had built. Also what they destroyed and buried.

So how terrible was the destruction of the cemetery once the people had left, really. It appears to be sacrilegious, and yet, it was just ground where people had left the remains of people who died in varying circumstances. There were gravestones that told a very short story, pardon the pun, the bare bones about a life. These physical markers for people to visit on occasion and remember, for a little while, the person who could no longer be touched in any other way.

Today, in this day and age, the cemetery is a point of interest to try to get a grasp on what life was like in the area known, in this instance, as Cassilis, a mining area. Much has been lost with the theft and/or destruction of the grave stones and any surrounds that have gone missing. This is to be lamented and is like burning the only copy of a book that few people have read, and even fewer alive who remember, even parts of it.

This is also the reason that the Cassilis Cemetery Trustees attempt to learn more and maintain what is left of the site. Truly it is just ground, it is the cover of the book, enticing the reader who, upon opening it, finds it mostly devoid of any material, turning enticement to a tease. There is information still around. However, it's in the wind in the main, ephemeral, or lost or soon lost if not collected, blown away and scattered widely. Spread into far reaches where it may have been caught up in corners and means nothing on it's own, just a thread separated from the tapestry in which it belongs and completes.

It becomes a challenge for any who wonders why information was lost? In the case of the burial records of Cassilis cemetery, in a fire. Henry David Thoreau asks, “how important is something that can be forgotten?” We ask ourselves, how important is something, not protected and so easily destroyed?

Natures Helpers..........

Something which most visitors to the Cassilis recreation reserve and cemetery are unaware, is the grass during the autumn, winter and early spring period, is usually kept in check and nicely trimmed by the many kangaroos who feed on it and live in the forested areas round about. This is the way nature works and we who manage the reserve and cemetery, are pleased they do so. It means not having to use blades, and fuel to drive them to cut the grass. Something that's never as good for the grass as the natural way of the kangaroo.

The grass itself is fuel, for kangaroos and other wildlife that frequent these two public places. An added bonus is that the animals who feed on the grass also fertilise it and over the years it has grown richer and more dense.

Conversely, the feral grazers and browsers also feed on the grass and would feed on the larger trees if they weren't protected. However, they to fertilise the ground. They do not want anything without some payment made either. We are learning to live with these, as we must, because they are now naturalised wildlife. They have been introduced into the country the same as the white settlers, convicts and their keepers before them, and like these they are now part of our landscape.

During the late spring and summer months, the wildlife are generally unable to keep the grass of these public areas neatly trimmed, so we have to assist with a mower. However, the wildlife save us a considerable amount of money all year round, and assist by keeping the grass trimmed and in good health.

Cemetery Comfort

The DELWP workers putting in place some comfort for visitors to the Cassilis cemetery.

The picnic table in this position to take advantage of shade and shelter.

In the shade of the beautiful Algerian Oak that has been providing a cooling influence over the Cassilis Cemetery, in the hottest of summer days, for a considerable time.

It may be fanciful. However this tree has been here for so many years, who would gainsay that it was not brought back with a returned soldier from a conflict of which he was a part?

A little fantasy can be entertaining and might be very close to the truth. One assumes these trees in the Cassilis cemetery were deliberately planted, as there are no other like them in the area.

There is an Algerian oak in the gardens of Parliament House in Melbourne:

http://vhd.heritagecouncil.vic.gov.au/places/5241/download-report

[quote]
In February 1890, an Algerian Oak (Quercus canariensis) was planted in Melbourne's Parliament House gardens, by the Premier of New South Wales, Sir Henry Parkes. The planting commemorated the Australasian Federal Convention, which was then underway in Parliament House. The convention was a breakthrough in the move towards federation, in that the colonies actually agreed to federate and to hold a national convention to consider drafting a constitution. The tree is now known as the Federal Oak.

Henry Parkes is an important and colourful figure in Australian political history. He initiated numerous reforms during his time in politics in New South Wales parliament, and from 1889 was a key figure in the federation movement. He is popularly regarded as one of the 'Fathers of Federation'.

Heritage Victoria is currently undertaking a national survey of heritage places associated with federation. The Federal Oak is just one of many places that have already been identified and included in a database of federation places.
[end quote]

The Cassilis cemetery oak does not have a trunk as thick as the one mentioned above, but if it was from an acorn carried in the pocket of a soldier interested in trees or flora in general and grown to size that could be planted here. it would be about the right age.

Regardless of where the trees came from, and what far sighted individual saw how they might be appreciated by future generations. There is now a place to sit and contemplate whatever takes the fancy of the visitor.