South Brisbane Cemetery

One of Queensland’s oldest burial grounds, South Brisbane Cemetery was reserved as a supplement to the overflowing Paddington Cemetery in 1864 although the first official burial, of a woman by the name of Jane Hocking, didn’t occur until 1870. The stately entrance gates were added in 1888 to a design by high profile architect AB Wilson and the graves in its early days represented a cross section of the good the bad and the ugly.

The last of Australia’s bushrangers Patrick Kenniff, who was incarcerated and hung on the gallows across the road at Boggo Road Gaol, is buried here as are some 41 of his fellow prisoners including the child-killer and last man executed in Queensland, Ernest Austin.

Many of the early Russian migrants, who arrived in the area after the Communist take over, are interred here as are post World War II Greek and Italian immigrants and fifty soldiers who died in World War II.

In contrast to the pauper’s graves, many of the monuments in this cemetery are fine examples of craftsmanship throughout the century of operation.