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Throughout our region are a number of cemeteries that honour the memories of loved ones from our community. The list of cemeteries below has been split into two categories:
Information provided for each of the cemeteries includes the location, internment options, history and contact details.
We operate 19 cemeteries across the Toowoomba Region which are open to the public from 6am to 6pm every day.
Back Plains Cemetery has headstones dating from 1899 and is open for burials.
Hours of operation: open daily from 6am to 6pm
Contact: 131 872
Location: Naumann Road, Back Plains. View in Google Maps.
The Back Plains Cemetery contains the burial sites of some of the first farmers in the Back Plains area, in particular the Naumanns, Rosselers and Lacks.
The cemetery has headstones dating from 1899 until recent years. It is now open for burials. Back Plains is named for its geographical location to the Clifton Station.
On 30 September 1944, the Clifton Shire Council was appointed as Trustee of the Reserve for Back Plains Cemetery.
Cabarlah Cemetery offers headstone, ashes and columbarium interment options.
Location: New England Highway, Cabarlah. View in Google Maps.
According to records, on 11 September 1878, a reserve was appointed for Cabarlah Cemetery, also known as Geham Cemetery. On 2 January 1880 the Governor, with the advice of the Executive Council, appointed Duncan Munro, John Munro, Louis Robinson, Thomas Bowden, Michael Tansey, Joseph Kahler and Thomas Walls as Trustees of Cemetery Reserve at Geham.
Records show the first burials occurred in 1881. One of these was Thomas John, son of John Munro and Elizabeth Adams. Thomas was born on 26 July 1880 and died on 7 March 1881.
Cecil Plains Cemetery offers headstone, ashes and columbarium interment options.
Location: Cemetery Road, Cecil Plains. View in Google Maps.
The Cecil Plains Cemetery is separated into sections for Roman Catholic, Anglican and Presbyterian religions, plus a non-denominational area.
The first known burial occurred in 1927. As cemetery records prior to the 1950s were poor, the many unmarked graves that exist within the cemetery suggests that burials may have occurred earlier than 1927.
In 2000, a columbarium was established and is the most recent addition to the site.
The historical Cecil Plains Cemetery is now closed for burials.
Location: corner Cheetham Street and Dalby-Cecil Plains Road, Cecil Plains. View in Google Maps.
The historical Cecil Plains Cemetery dates back to 1873.
Boards that provide the details of people buried within the cemetery and how they died have been placed around a large tree located within the cemetery. This tree is known as the honour tree. Many people buried in the cemetery drowned attempting to cross the Condamine River when it was in flood.
Clifton Cemetery offers headstone, lawn, ashes and columbarium interment options.
Location: Cemetery Road, Clifton. View in Google Maps.
Clifton Council records date from 1882, although there would have been burials prior to this date. The first funeral handled by Council was on 7 August 1941 for Mrs A Donovan. The cemetery is on a 4.047 hectare parcel of land fronting Cemetery Road. The pioneer headstones of various shapes, sizes and materials are interspersed with more recent monuments.
Cooyar Cemetery offers headstone, ashes and columbarium interment options.
Location: Cooyar-Mt Binga Road, Cooyar. View in Google Maps.
The Cooyar Cemetery is located off Cooyar-Mt Binga Road, Cooyar. Records show that Cooyar Cemetery was allocated and reserved for a cemetery on 18 June 1908. It was also allocated for a police paddock.
The earliest identified grave is 1928 but other unmarked graves have been found that may pre-date this.
Crows Nest Cemetery offers lawn, headstone and ashes interment options.
Location: 73 - 75 Emu Creek Road, Crows Nest (located directly opposite this address). View in Google Maps.
Within a period of ten years, three cemeteries were surveyed for Crows Nest. The first surveyed cemetery was located on Church grounds. Unfortunately, the number of burials at this location remains unknown. Trustees for the third cemetery were not appointed until 1891. The first recorded burial was in 1892, when little Edith Helsham was interred. The Trustees were responsible for the control of the Crows Nest Cemetery until 1936, when it became a Council controlled cemetery. The camphor laurel trees were planted in 1906 to provide shade for the mourners.
Douglas Cemetery interment options are burials, headstones and ashes.
Location: Douglas-Plainby Road, Douglas. View in Google Maps.
In 1886 a letter sent to the Government requested ten acres be reserved beside the Gomoran (Douglas) School reserve. On 21 December 1886 a public cemetery was gazetted and given the Reserve Number 114 and Cemetery Number 177. Secretary for the cemetery trustees WE Wilcox sent a letter to the Department of Lands dated 10 February 1896 requesting for the cemetery grounds to be called Gomoran. This was granted on the 17 February 1896.
In a report by the Assistant and Ranger to the Toowoomba Land Commissioner in September 1953, it was noted that the reserve was reported to consist of ten acres and slopes from a hill on the eastern boundary. The soil was reported as being brown clayey loam and half the grounds had iron bark, sugar gum, gum top box and heavy wattle undergrowth. The part of the cemetery used for burials was heavy with Rhodes grass. The only noxious weed reported on the reserve was scattered pear heavily infected with cactoblastis. Within this report was a list of improvements, which consisted of fencing, a shed and iron gates.The entire ten acre boundary was fenced, as was the northern side (Lutheran section) and the southern side (Catholic section). It was believed that a parking area existed in between. The shed, which has since been removed, was in the Lutheran section of the grounds and the box toilet was in the parking area. You can still see the double gate entry with a prickly pear growing through it, where the public would have driven to access the parking area.
Djuan/Bergen Cemetery offers headstone and ashes interment options.
Location: Menkins Road, Bergen. View in Google Maps.
In 1914 the cemetery trustees agreed upon dividing the grounds into the following religious denominations:
The remaining part of the burial ground was for all others.
In 1982 Crows Nest Shire Council was appointed trustee of the cemetery reserve. Since the 2008 local government reforms, Toowoomba Regional Council now continues to provide local residents with a high level of service.
The Drayton & Toowoomba Cemetery has served Toowoomba and the surrounding communities since the mid 1800s. It continues to meet the needs of the present generation.
Application forms for the available interment options are available here.
Hours of operation:
Office hours are 9am to 4pm Monday to Friday (appointments preferred).
Cemeteries are open to the public from 6am to 6pm daily.
Location: Corner Anzac Avenue and South Street Toowoomba. View in Google Maps.
In 1864 a Deed of Grant in Trust was issued over an area of two acres (0.8094ha) to the Trustees of the Church of England for a Toowoomba cemetery. A later deed, issued in 1867, expanded this to eight acres (3.2 ha) and extended the trusteeship to various religious denominations. The dimensions of today’s cemetery were laid down in 1882 when an area of 67 acres (27.11 ha) was gazetted for the Drayton & Toowoomba Cemetery. Control of the cemetery was passed from the Trust to Toowoomba City Council in 1974. Since the 2008 local government reforms, we continue to provide residents with a high level of service.
Since the first registered burial in 1866, the Drayton & Toowoomba Cemetery has been an integral part of Toowoomba’s history. It contains the graves of pioneers, previous Mayors and other prominent people who shaped our local history. A walk through various sections gives you insight into the way people lived in different eras, the hardship they faced, their life expectancy and even prevalent diseases at the time. In 2009 the Drayton & Toowoomba cemetery was listed in the Queensland Heritage Register.
We maintain the cemetery to ensure the grounds are beautifully presented and interments are respectfully performed.
Explore the rich and fascinating history of Toowoomba's early pioneers with our self-guided tombstone trail walks.
Section CE1, Block 3, Allotment 45
In 1893, the first appendectomy in Australia was performed on Emma Webb on the kitchen table in her residence at the rear of her husband’s bakery on the corner of Ruthven and Piper Streets. She recovered well from her ordeal and went on to outlive her doctors. The main building of the Toowoomba Hospital is named in her honour and features an informative display about her procedure and its historic significance.
Section CE 13-18 Block 15 Allotment 37
Josiah Dent was probably the first European to live in "The Swamp," later to be known as Toowoomba. He was found living in a tent where the entry to the Myer store is today. After his marriage he built a house near the present CWA Rooms in Margaret Street. His daughter Pamela was the first female child christened in Toowoomba.
Section CE 19-24 Block 19 Allotment
In 1903 the poet George Essex Evans was the driving force behind the formation of Toowoomba’s Austral Society. His poems ‘The Women of the West’ and ‘The Nation Builders’ were well known to Queensland school children who learnt them from their reading books. Essex Evans died in 1909 at the age of only 46 and this "life cut short" is commemorated in the broken column design of his headstone.
Section Old CE Block R3 Allotment 5
William Henry Groom arrived in Australia in 1849 as a boy of 16 years, convicted of stealing in England three years previously. He became an auctioneer in 1858. Over the next 43 years he became respected and influential in Toowoomba and could be named the father of Toowoomba. He was Toowoomba’s first mayor elected in 1861. He led his council acquiring land for the town hall and funds for the establishment of the General Hospital and Willowburn Hospital, now Baillie Henderson. He died of a combination of ‘bronchial catarrh’ and heart failure on 8th August 1901.
Section Old CE 1 Block R1 Allotment 15
Nell was the first woman mayor in Queensland after her election in April 1967 and held the position for almost 15 years. Nell studied dramatic art in London then returned home to help in the War effort, later teaching at Fairholme. She was awarded an OBE in 1979.
Section Old CE 2 Block R1 Allotment 8
William Beit married Mary Kellett and to mark the occasion they resolved to build a homestead. John McLean (Colonial Treasurer of Queensland) and William Beit bought the land in 1853, on which Westbrook Homestead was eventually built a kilometre from the main Pittsworth highway just beyond Westbrook Creek.
Section BAP1 Block 5 Allotment 67
Thomas Trevethan was born in Cornwall, England and died 21st September, 1891 aged 47 years. He was a coachbuilder, Alderman and became Mayor in 1888. Thomas Trevethan junior, with his uncle Walter, built the first Queensland car in their Neil Street factory in 1902. It was a single-cylinder 6hp Dion engine buggy.
Section Jewish Row 3
Henry Spiro, the only German/Jewish speaking Mayor of Toowoomba was elected in 1873 and died on 10th December 1876, aged 36 years and two months. He was instrumental in building the first Jewish Synagogue in Toowoomba situated in Neil Street. His monument is inscribed in Hebrew and English.
Section Old RC2 Block R1 Allotment 24
The brothers William and Peter Gentle were Toowoomba hoteliers. Peter’s hotel, The Horse and Jockey, is now known as the Shamrock. William owned land where the present Gentle Street is located.
Section Old RC 2 Block R4 Allotment 4
In 1869 the brothers Patrick and Thomas Perkins constructed a large brewery in Margaret Street now occupied by Grand Central Shopping Centre, then one of the largest in the southern hemisphere. It produced more than 25,000 gallons of XXX beer per week. Thomas died on the 10th August 1876 from injuries accidentally received at the age of 35.
Section Pres 1 Block 4 Allotment 42
James was a part owner of the Darling Downs Gazette and also a parliamentarian. His sister, Helen (Ella) Tolmie was the first probationer engaged at the Toowoomba General Hospital was said to have assisted at Emma Webb’s appendectomy. She was appointed to matron of the General Hospital in 1897.
Section Pres 1 Block 7 Allotment 35
Sir Hugh Nelson was the President of Legislative Council, Lieutenant Governor of Queensland, Queensland Treasurer and State Premier. Sir Hugh Nelson lived at historic Gabbinbar, which was built in 1863. Gabbinbar is situated at the South end of Ramsay Street. Sir Hugh Nelson’s father was the Rev. William Lambie Nelson, the first minister of St. Stephens, Presbyterian Church.
Section Pres 1 Block 11 Allotment 3
John, Sarah and their three children arrived in Brisbane on the ‘Lady Douglas’ in June 1874. John Devine and his wife Sarah farmed in the Vale View area south of Toowoomba until he became Sexton of the Drayton and Toowoomba Cemetery in 1875 on 1st March. This began 86 years of continuous service by three generations of Devines to the cemetery. Mrs. Davison (nee Devine) pointed out that John’s surname was originally Diffin but on leaving the ship, which brought them from Ireland, his surname had changed from Diffin to Devine. No apparent reason is known for this but Mrs. Davison mused that it may have been on account of pronouncing the name ‘Diffin’ as ‘Devine’.
Section RC 4 Block 1 Allotment 22
Michael was the founder of Pigott and Co. and established a retailing business in Toowoomba after he broke away from his Brisbane partner Bierne.
John McKinney left Ireland in 1881 at the age of 19, for Australia. In 1885 he established the House of McKinney that began as a tobacconist and hairdresser at the top end of Ruthven Street. Even over the war years the business grew. By 1927 John McKinney passed the reins over to his son. Toowoomba’s store used to extend from Ruthven Street over Duggan Street to Victoria Street.
Evergreen Cemetery offers headstone, lawn and ashes interment options.
Hours of operation: open daily from 6am to 6pmContact: 131 872
Location: Haden Peranga Road, Evergreen. View in Google Maps.
The earliest recorded burial in the Evergreen Cemetery was for Sarah Patch in 1890.Evergreen cemetery was operated by trustees until 2003. Following the resignation of the trustees, the Evergreen Cemetery management committee was formed to manage the cemetery along with Rosalie Shire Council. Since the 2008 local government reforms, Toowoomba Regional Council now continues to provide local residents with a high level of service.
Glencoe Cemetery offers lawn and ashes interment options.
Location: Gowrie Glencoe Road, Glencoe. View in Google Maps.
The Glencoe Cemetery was established 16 January 1997 and is set on two hectares on Gowrie-Glencoe Roade. The cemetery is situated right next door to the Glencoe Bethlehem Lutheran Cemetery.
On 25 October 2004, the first burial took place in the name of Henry Wilhelm Josef Erben, aged 75 years.
Goombungee Cemetery offers headstone, ashes and columbarium interment options.
Location: Cemetery Road, Haden which is off Kingsthorpe-Haden Road. View in Google Maps.
The original location of the Goombungee Cemetery is different to where it is today. The first reserve was cancelled because it was impossible to sink a grave and a new site was chosen on the south-east corner of Portion 50V, Parish of Goombungee. On 17 January 1894, a new 6.2 acre cemetery reserve was proclaimed, which was placed in the Government Gazette on 3 February 1894. The first burial took place on 23 July 1894 in the name of Edith Annie Lloyd, aged 10 months.
The name Goombungee-Haden was first recorded in correspondence in 1925, but the grounds have always been officially known as Goombungee Cemetery Reserve until the Committee became incorporated. The Cemetery was handed over to Council in 2008.
In 1990, Sid and John Newton built a brick memorial wall to house eight urns.
Greenmount Cemetery offers headstone and ashes interment options.
Location: Cemetery Road, Greenmount. View in Google Maps.
The Greenmount Cemetery is located between Greenmount and East Greenmount. It covers an area of 1.59 ha, on reserve No 434. Control of the cemetery has been by local authority, predominately by the former Cambooya Shire Council. The first recorded burial was Harrison Harry Beck, a seven and half year-old boy who died on 3 August 1884 from a fall from a tree. He was buried the following day. As of 1 July 2010, 214 burials have taken place at the cemetery.
Kooroongarra Cemetery is closed for burials.
Location: Kooroongarra Cemetery Road, Kooroongarra. View in Google Maps.
Records obtained from headstones show that the first burial occurred in 1901, with the last burial being performed in 1969. As the ground in the cemetery is extremely hard, it was decided that it should no longer be operational. Another factor supporting this decision was the uncertainty of the exact location of the unmarked graves in the area.
Meringandan Cemetery offers headstone and ashes interment options.
Location: Peters Road, Meringandan West. View in Google Maps.
The Meringandan Cemetery was surveyed on 13th October 1876 and operated by trustees until 2004.
In 2005 Rosalie Shire Council was appointed trustee of the cemetery reserve. Since the 2008 local government reforms, Toowoomba Regional Council continues to provide required services.
Millmerran Cemetery offers headstone, lawn, ashes, columbarium and rose garden interment options.
Location: 135 Campbell Street, Millmerran. View in Google Maps.
The first known burial in the Millmerran Cemetery occurred in February 1903. However, burials prior to this are possible as many unmarked graves exist within the cemetery. The headstone sections of the cemetery were segregated until 1979 when the lawn cemetery was established. A rose garden was established in 2003 and has proved to be very popular.
Nobby Cemetery offers headstone and ashes interment options.
Location: 86 Mount Kent Boundary Road, Nobby. View in Google Maps.
The area was originally taken up as part of Clifton Station and by 1870 the land was being resumed and subdivided for closer settlement. The township of Nobby developed after the coming of the railway in 1869 and the cemetery was gazetted soon after.
The remains of several well-known people are interred in this cemetery including Sister Kenny and Victor Denton. Victor Denton’s headstone was the first heritage-listed War Memorial erected in Queensland.
The cemetery is situated on a slight rise above Mt Kent two kilometres west of Nobby. The headstones range from ground plaques to large ornate sandstone columns. The cemetery contains memorials that date back to the earliest settlers in the district.
On 16 November 1945, the Clifton Shire Council was appointed the Trustee of the Reserve for Nobby Cemetery.
Pittsworth Cemetery offers headstone, ashes, lawn and columbarium interment options.
Location: Stoney Street, Pittsworth. View in Google Maps.
The Pittsworth Cemetery has lawn and monument sections along with columbarium walls.
The earliest burial on record was on 8 August 1898 in the monument section. Originally two different sections, Roman Catholic and Other Religions, were allocated for burials.
In 1966 the lawn section opened. The first columbarium wall was built in 1986, a second in 2001 and a third in 2016.
Yarraman Cemetery offers headstone, lawn, ashes and columbarium interment options.
Location: Yarraman-Kooralgin Road, Yarraman. View in Google Maps.
On 1 September 1910, the Minister for Public Lands and Irrigation gave the direction to the Land Agents District, Parish of Cooyar to issue ten acres of land for the use of Yarraman Creek Cemetery. Within that area, about one acre and 23 perches was surveyed off as actual cemetery reserve. This site is on Yarraman-Kooralgin Road, Yarraman.
The cemetery, at that time, was managed by a trust of five local, pioneering gentlemen. However, two of these gentlemen passed away and the remaining three resigned from that trust. In April 1935 it pleased His Excellency the Governor to appoint the Council of the Shire of Rosalie to be trustee of the reserve for the Yarraman Creek Cemetery.
In 1989 a Yarraman Cemetery improvement committee was formed and was part of the initiation of the lawn section within the cemetery. The columbarium was erected as a memorial to the wife of a well known local resident at a cost to himself.
Location: South Street, Aubigny. View in Google Maps.
There were originally two churches in Aubigny, the Lutheran Church and the Catholic Church, with both having their own cemeteries on the Westbrook Homestead Area. The Holy Cross Catholic Church, a presence since 1888, was removed some years ago and the churchyard abandoned. The Catholic Church cemetery remains on private property although there have been recent enquiries about burial.
Location: John Street, Aubigny. View in Google Maps.
1886 saw the establishment of a church for the German Evangelical Lutheran Congregation within the Westbrook Homestead Area. It was situated on a two acre allotment, a portion was which was set aside for the graveyard. A new church building was erected in 1929, and St John’s Lutheran Church remains on this site.
Location: Lot 328, New England Highway, Emu Creek. View in Google Maps.
The Emu Creek Cemetery dates from around 1898 when tenders were called for clearing land and fencing 2 ½ acres of land for this purpose. The Queensland Under-Secretary for Lands had requested that part of the Reserve at Emu Creek be set apart for this in 1896. It is the final resting place for workers from the Emu Creek Run with the earliest memorialised burial in 1899. This was Frederick August Otto Briskey, eldest son of Adam and Mary, who died at his family’s property aged 13 years and 5 months.
Glencoe was settled by German immigrants and other farmers from the 1870s. The first Lutheran church was built in 1880 and the current building was erected in 1908. The Bethlehem Lutheran cemetery adjoins the church, and a number of the earlier headstones have epitaphs written in German. Family names that featured prominently in the area, and in the cemetery, 100 years ago are still apart of the local community in the 21st century. From 1992 the Glencoe Parish has joined with St John’s Lutheran Church at Wilsonton.
St Paul’s Lutheran Church at Greenwood services the descendants of the German settlement on this part of the Darling Downs. First generation farmers settled in this district which was only a day’s wagon ride away from their parents at Meringandan and Cabarlah where the first Germans on the Darling Downs settled. Names that feature prominently on headstones include Priebbenow, Hausler, Lane, Janetski and Noller. The earliest burial is believed to have taken place in 1901.
The Highfields Baptist Cemetery is located in Kuhl’s Road and is administered by the local Baptist church. In older records the district may be called Koojarewon. The gravestones in the cemetery date from the late 1800s and centre around two main families, the Brownes and the Tighes, who immigrated to the area from Ireland.
Contact: Jondaryan Cemetery Trust, Joann Evans – 4692 2226
Location: Lot 73 Jondaryan-Evanslea Rd, Jondaryan. View in Google Maps.
There is a little wooden Anglican church opposite the Jondaryan Cemetery but as the cemetery is a district cemetery it has no affiliation. It is administered by a Board of Trustees and has been thus governed since the late 1800s. Available records date back to the mid 1930s; earlier records were destroyed in a fire.
Contact: Oakey Cemetery Committee – 0408 188 684
Location: 19 Taylor St, Oakey. View in Google Maps.
A reserve was set aside for a cemetery at Oakey in the parish of Watts by proclamation on 2 March 1882 in the room of Edward Cherry (farmer) and Gustave Castner (butcher). Both men were prominent citizens in the town and it was their plan that the cemetery be overseen and maintained by trustees. In the 21st century the cemetery remains under the administration of a Board of Trustees.
Records: All records are held by the State Government.
Location: Mcerlean Road, Ravensbourne. View in Google Maps.
The Ravensbourne Cemetery dates back prior to 1894 when tenders were called to clear and fence the site. Mr H. McErlean was the successful tenderer. The cemetery was established for the new settlers to the Ravensbourne district who had entered the ballot for 40 acre blocks of land being opened up for dairy and produce farming. Of those graves with monuments the family names of Muller, Beutel, Gray, McErlean and Taylor dominate.
Silverleigh, or Boah Peak as it was called in earlier days, was a little church approximately two kilometres from Greenwood. The church hall and building have been removed and there is a cairn commemorating their original location. In 1967 the church building was moved to Esk, and the hall to Koojarewon Camp at Highfields. The cemetery itself is on the top of a small hill surrounded by paddocks.
St Paul's Anglican Church is located on the corner of Church Road and Grasstree Road. It was dedicated on 25 February 1891 by Bishop William Thomas Thornhill Webber and was closed circa 1985. The Anglican Church was removed from the site in 2019, however the cemetery remains available via the Anglican Church Diocese.
A video of the existing church building can be found on Youtube.
For enquires regarding the cemetery, please contact the Anglican Church Southern Queensland on (07) 3835 2222.
Historical records show just six burials at the Western Creek Homestead across four families – the Burns, Dunne, Flynn and Pierce families. The youngest was Julia Dunne who died in 1864 of consumption. Those buried here may have been employed at Western Creek or lived nearby, like Maria Pierce who died at her residence, Junction Station, and was buried at the homestead in 1869.
All Saints’ Church is a timber church erected at Yandilla Station by the Gore family about 1878 on the site of an earlier church, which it closely resembles. The graveyard around the church is believed to have been established in 1863 supplanting the previous custom of burial close to the homestead. At this time, the 'village' at the station had over 100 inhabitants. The church was used by workers of all religious denominations on the station. Catholic services were held there from 1862 and Presbyterian services from 1891. The earliest burial is that of Yandilla manager and partner, Charles Owen, who was murdered at Owen's Scrub, Yandilla, on 29 April 1864.
The historical information provided above for non-Council owned cemeteries was collated from Local History and Robinson Collections, Toowoomba Region Libraries.
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