This cache is SirJ-Oz's seventeenth cache. A virtual with 5 way points, and 5 questions to answer.
Oakleigh Pioneer Memorial Park
Park or Cemetery?
Cemeteries are scary, right?
Not this one, there are no;
- ominous walls (are they to keep people out or keep the 'residents' in?)
- rows upon rows of graves
- foreboding atmosphere of hushed expectation
Nope, this one has large open areas, intemittantly spaced headstones and monuments, shares the area with a bandstand, play equipment, footy grandstand, RSL, cenotaph, police station and many council buildings. Not your typical boneyard.
History of the Oakleigh General Cemetery
The former Oakleigh General Cemetery , now known as Oakleigh Pioneer Memorial Park, is located in the heart of a residential and shopping centre. But when first formed from a township reserve, it was bushland.
An Order-in-Council in 1859 set aside ten acres for a cemetery, bounded by what are now Warrigal Road, Atherton Road, Drummond Street and the Oakleigh Recreation Reserve. The first trustees were appointed in 1860: Patrick William Niall, Richard McClure, Charles Nelson, William Head and Robert Glover Benson.
The original layout of the cemetery was based on an elliptical carriageway with a north/south path dividing the Church of England and Roman Catholic denominational compartments. This created a formal centrepiece from which radiating paths separated areas allocated to Wesleyan, Baptist, Presbyterian and Independent denominations.
In 1909 an Order-in-Council discontinued the sale of new grave sites. Threats of closure caused great controversy over many years. Interments continued for holders of burial rights until 1960 when the cemetery was finally closed.
The Council of the City of Oakleigh was appointed as Trustee on 2 May 1961 until, in 1994, the City of Oakleigh was amalgamated to form the City of Monash.
Over the years the original allotment of land for the cemetery has been reduced by the taking of land for such sites as a post office, council chambers, Memorial Hall, baby health centre (now demolished), municipal offices, parks & gardens, road widening, and Recreation Reserve extensions.
The Oakleigh and District Historical Society, founded in 1981, requested protection of the area and Council responded in 1986 by providing for the formation of the (Oakleigh) Pioneer Cemetery Beautification Committee. The committee comprised councillors, municipal officers, local Members of Parliament, interested residents and representatives of the then Health Department of Victoria and the Ministry of Planning & Environment. In 1988 the cemetery was rededicated as a memorial park.
Source: http://opmpac.monlib.vic.gov.au/history.html
The Cache
Let's go on a small tour and visit a couple of notable locations around the area.
The records of burial and the cemetery plan showing plot number locations, burial records, and records of the cemetery headstone transcriptions, is held by History Monash Inc. There are 2298 names in the burial records, but nowhere near than number of marked sites.
Don't worry, you won't need to access these records to get the information you need.
Questions
To log this cache, visit the waypoints, answer the questions, and send the answers to me.
Q1. At virtual stage 01, what is notable about Christina? And what is the number on the light pole closest to Christina (MCCxxxxx)?
Q2. At virtual stage 02, what year did Jack die?
Q3. At virtual stage 03, what year did William and Sarah arrive in Victoria?
Q4. At virtual stage 04, what was James a member of?
Q5. At virtual stage 05, how old was Charles Ferdinand Edward when he died?
Post your answers to amandaberries
Please don't post any of the answers (or hints to the answers) in your on-line log
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Virtual Reward - 2017/2018
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between August 24, 2017 and August 24, 2018. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards on the Geocaching Blog.