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WILLIAMSTOWN CEMETERY
89 CHAMPION ROAD WILLIAMSTOWN NORTH, HOBSONS BAY CITY

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Victorian Heritage Register
WILLIAMSTOWN CEMETERY SOHE 2008
WILLIAMSTOWN CEMETERY SOHE 2008
WILLIAMSTOWN CEMETERY SOHE 2008
WILLIAMSTOWN CEMETERY SOHE 2008
1williamstown cemetery fountain crossroads may1999
Williamstown cemetery plan
Williamstown Cemetery Gellibrand Vault May 1999
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Statement of Significance

What is significant?
Williamstown Cemetery was established in 1857 after the inadequacies of the unofficial cemetery at Point Gellibrand were repeatedly brought to the attention of the government. Located at North Williamstown, inland from the old graveyard, the Crown grant of 15 acres was laid out into equal quadrants and subdivided into denominational sections by Assistant Surveyor, William Martin. It was expanded in 1905. The sea was the main focus of the township, and the first burial on 22 March 1858, that of Captain Lawrence Lawson, a Master Mariner and long-term resident of Williamstown, is just one of many which document this strong maritime association. In 1899 some 808 bodies were exhumed from Point Gellibrand and re-interred at Williamstown cemetery in a mass grave, with the surviving gravestones mounted on a vault built in 1901. The old burial ground served from at least 1842 until 1856 and had contained the graves of ships' fever victims, sailors, and other men of the sea as well as convicts, and local pioneers. Other important features include the recently restored fountain dating from 1892, the intact layout of the early part of the cemetery, iron compartment markers, and numerous trees, notably the nineteenth century pines, and avenue of palms planted in 1931.

How is it significant?
The Williamstown Cemetery is of historical, social, aesthetic, and architectural significance to the State of Victoria.

Why is it significant?
The Cemetery is historically important as an index to the township history of Williamstown and the early maritime activities of Melbourne. The gravestones, memorials and monuments commemorate the lives of pioneers, naval and military men, sailors, prominent Melbourne citizens and everyday men, women, and children, recording their contribution to the settlement of the colony, and charting many a life and death relationship with the sea. The Point Gellibrand vault is historically important as an early memorial to Melbourne's pioneers, and its associated gravestones are significant for being among the State's earliest funerary artefacts. The Victorian Navy monument is of historical significance as it commemorates the long association Williamstown had with the Victorian Navy until Federation. The Robert Ellery memorial has historical importance for its associations with one of Victoria's earliest scientists who was the official Government Astronomer from 1853-95.

Williamstown Cemetery is socially important for its representation of burial practices, religious affiliations, values and tastes from the pre-goldrush years to the twentieth century. It has further social importance as a focus of sentiment, and for the insight it provides into a community whose fortunes were once inextricably tied to the sea.

The Cemetery is aesthetically important for its mid-nineteenth century layout which demonstrates prevailing Picturesque ideas about cemetery design. This value is significantly enhanced by the central focus of the ornate fountain, the avenue of palms along the main axial paths, mature conifers, two uncommon Maclura pomifera marking the original boundary and the large collection of gravestones and other examples of funerary art which dominate as the major visual element. The Sarah Liley monument with its statue of a woman holding an anchor is one of the most prominent memorials in the cemetery, adding considerably to its aesthetic significance. The entrance gates and Tudor-revival office are contributory aesthetic features.

The cemetery is of architectural importance for its rare nineteenth century fountain designed by architectural modellers, Wardrop & Scurry. The gravestones and memorials are important for displaying the craftsmanship and prevailing design characteristics of various periods. The cast iron denominational markers are also of note.
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    • History

      WILLIAMSTOWN CEMETERY - History

      Contextual History:
      From the 1850s the number and variety of cemeteries increased greatly in the colony of Victoria throughout its burgeoning suburban and rural centres. Most notable were those of Ballarat, Benalla, Boroondara (Kew), Brighton, Castlemaine (Campbell’s Creek), Geelong Western, Heidelberg, Kilmore, Kyneton, Maldon, Terang, Traralgon, Warrnambool, Williamstown, White Hills (Bendigo), and Sandhurst (Bendigo), as well as Melbourne General established in 1850 and opened in 1853.

      The great metropolitan cemeteries of London, namely Kensal Green of 1833, and Highgate of 1839 had introduced a picturesque Romanticism to cemetery design characterised by curved pathways, chapels, rest pavilions, large ornamental trees and shrubberies, and the aesthetic and recreational qualities of these designed cemetery parklands were to rival some of the best botanic gardens. The conventions of laying out cemeteries in plots and denominational sections, perpetual burial, the keeping of records, as well as the inclusion of gatelodges and chapels within the cemetery boundary all came into use during this period. Generally, cemeteries were still set out using rows of compartments, but this rigidity was now more than likely to be broken by formal garden beds and tree plantings within a circular or rectangular design. Some followed a naturalistic plan often taking the contours of the existing landscape as a starting point for a design characterised by an irregular pattern of curved pathways, compartments and plantings. These techniques gave the cemetery a more natural appearance whilst providing ‘a place of order and beauty for the burial of the dead’. As a concomitant to this aesthetic, cemetery buildings as well as monuments were often designed as picturesque features in the parkland.

      Point Gellibrand and Quarantine
      In the early years of Melbourne’s settlement the Yarra was too difficult for large vessels to navigate so ships dropped anchor at Williamstown and their passengers and stores were transferred to smaller craft for the trip upstream to Melbourne. When the ‘Manlius’ reached Port Phillip Bay in February 1842 carrying assisted emigrants from Scotland and Ireland, it was flying the yellow flag. A fever had taken forty-five lives during the journey, and until a quarantine camp could be set up the ship was ordered to remain at the river mouth off Gellibrand Point. The local Williamstown population of about 300 people were assured of their safety due to rigidly enforced quarantine regulations, but at the camp itself the fever claimed a further seventeen lives. The government had given instructions for a cemetery site to be set aside for deaths at the camp, but before this could be organised burials were already taking place at an ‘impromptu’ location by the sea at Point Gellibrand.

      This was not the first fever ship to be placed in quarantine near Williamstown; there had been the ‘John Barry’ in 1839 and the ‘Agricola’ in 1841, with about three deaths in total. The burial ground at Point Gellibrand may have come into use at this time. However, mention of a ‘fever cemetery’ is not made until 1842 with the arrival of the ‘Manlius’. Further fever ships were quarantined at Williamstown until Point Nepean became the official quarantine station in 1852. An official cemetery was established there in about 1855.

      Gellibrand’s Point
      The Gellibrand Point cemetery was used for burials from 1842 until 1856. The acre site was never gazetted as a public cemetery, and it seems that no records were kept of those interred, but it is known that locals were buried there as well as fever victims. Of those identified, nearly half were children. Apart from ships’ passengers, the cemetery also tended to be ‘the graveyard of sailors, bay pilots, ships’ captains and other men of the sea and of the families they left ashore’. Some local settlers were also buried there, although many preferred to bury their dead at the Old Melbourne Cemetery. The Wedge family who drowned in the floodwaters of the Werribee River in 1852 (and their land purchased by the Chirnside family of Werribee Park fame) were layed to rest at Point Gellibrand. Convicts, or rather, those convicted of crimes since arriving in the colony, were also buried there. With the rapid growth of arrivals in the 1850s, the colony’s prisons failed to cope with the upsurge in criminal convictions, and due to the goldrushes there was a shortage of prison officers. Temporary gaols in the form of prison hulks were moored off Williamstown. During the day many men were brought ashore as gang labour for public works. The dry bluestone graveyard wall built in 1858 at Point Gellibrand was one such project. Conditions were brutal and riots were not infrequent, and bodies of both prisoners and warders were buried at Gellibrand Point.


      History of Place:
      A New Cemetery at Williamstown
      After the initial influx of arrivals during the gold rushes it was reported in the 1850s that there were several hundred graves in the cemetery at Point Gellibrand, although ‘only 33 had headstones with inscriptions that could still be read’. The inadequacies of the burial ground were brought to the attention of the government in 1853 and 1854, amid moves to establish an official township cemetery of only two acres at the north end of Williamstown.
      Trustees for a new cemetery were appointed in 1854, namely Lt Crawford Pasco of the water police, Dr William Storey, Captain Charles Ferguson the first Chief Harbour Master, early settler John O’Neil, Robert McKay customs official, George Thomas, James Conroy publican and Thomas Mason first Mayor of Williamstown. By 1857 a 15 acre cemetery site had been laid out into equal quadrants and subdivided into denominational sections by Assistant Surveyor, William Martin. The government had provided the land as well as a grant of 340 pounds for enclosing and laying it out. It is not clear why it took so long from the appointment of the trustees in 1854 to the first burial in 1858.

      The site was in a large flat basalt boulder strewn area that was prone to flooding. Railways to Geelong and Williamstown skirted its edges. The two railways and the cemetery had all been established in 1857 and in that same year a move was initiated by municipal chairman Thomas Mason to have a large part of the same wasteland set apart ‘for a public garden or park’. The proposal was for a 57 acre site which would have the cemetery as its centre-piece. Negotiations with the government ensued over an application for a land grant, and in December 1859 a plan was prepared by the Williamstown municipality for a park (surrounding the cemetery) with a circle of 50 or 60 villa allotments around it. Plans for this ambitious scheme were unfortunately scotched in the 1880s by the development of the Newport Railway Workshops. However the proposal is significant for drawing on the tradition of municipal parks and the role of the residential square, and for demonstrating the influence of the garden cemetery movement.

      Williamstown Cemetery 1857-1887
      Captain Lawrence Lawson, a Master Mariner and long-term resident of Williamstown, was the first person to buried at the cemetery, on 22 March 1858. By 12 May, six burials had been made, and by the end of the year there had been fifty-five. In the following year there were about one hundred, and this number rose steadily to 222 for the year 1887. Many early burials were those of children and men, reflecting the high levels in infant mortality as well as the general composition of the population for that period. Three in every four burials were those of children under the age of 11. The tombstone to Henry and Caroline Brown indicates that 4 of their children died in infancy or childhood in the 1860s.

      As Lemon & Morgan write, ‘the new cemetery was soon a tangible link with the history of Williamstown and with the maritime world which was the chief focus of the township’. The little hub of Williamstown grew in size and status during the first thirty years of the cemetery’s operation. Sailors, labourers, Chinese gold miners, and local pioneers were buried at the cemetery, as well as naval men from ships increasingly attracted to the deep water docking and rail freight facilities provided by the town. Built to provide repair and maintenance facilities for large sea-going ships, the Alfred Graving Dock, begun in 1864 and completed in 1873 as ‘the greatest single work undertaken by the Colony of Victoria’, confirmed Williamstown’s maritime importance.

      1888-1890 Beautification Works
      By the late 1880s when the cemetery was 50 years old, there were about 4000 graves. In 1889 a new board of trustees was appointed who took good care of record keeping and administration. A new official seal was designed featuring an anchor, and new rules, regulations and notices were introduced. Despite some controversy, the old cemetery keeper was dismissed and a new employee appointed. A new timber fence was erected and other beautification projects commenced, notably the construction of a large fountain for the intersection of the main roadways at the centre of the grounds which was completed in 1892 by architectural modellers, Wardrop & Scurry for 55 pounds. The design is identical to other fountains erected by the same firm still surviving at Ararat Town Hall (c.1902) and Hamilton Botanic Gardens (c.1918-21). The basins were decorated with rockwork and shells. Because of constant leakage and excessive water consumption, it was converted into a goldfish pond and only used as a fountain on special occasions. The Williamstown Mayor, also Chairman of the Cemetery Trust, John Craig, took great interest in his role, even inspecting Scottish cemeteries when he travelled overseas in 1890. He recommended that a keeper’s residence be constructed, that the gardens be developed, and that rustic seats be placed in the grounds.

      The Point Gellibrand Exhumations 1899
      The beautified cemetery now stood in sharp comparison to the forlorn Point Gellibrand graveyard near the sea. The rail line constructed to Williamstown Pier in 1858 had effectively cut it off from the town, and the railway sheds that conglomerated on the rail reserve made it remote from view. Unkempt and forgotten, the old cemetery suffered from vandalism, and by the early nineties it was reported that headstones had been smashed or stolen. More specifically, it was found in 1892 that seamen were removing gravestones and breaking them up to scour decks of ships as well as to sharpen knives. The Age newspaper investigated the matter, pointing out that the cemetery contained the graves of many pioneers of Victoria, and soon enough publicity was generated to arouse the concern of the community. However some years passed before any positive action was taken. The Victorian Railways were keen to claim the entire Point Gellibrand site and advanced the matter by recommending to the Williamstown Council that the bodies should be exhumed and reinterred elsewhere. In June 1898 Williamstown Council formally approached the Trustees of Williamstown Cemetery for approval to relocate the bodies. As there were only thirty-two gravestones remaining it was thought that an area of about 20 x 16 feet would be sufficient to provide a mass grave for the few dozen bodies estimated for reburial. In October, approval from Solicitor-General was given to the Railways Department to go ahead with the exhumations, but work did not start until 28 August 1899 and ran to 3 October. As there were no records it was impossible to identify many of the individual graves. Those that could be identified were buried in private graves elsewhere in the cemetery. Some exhumed bodies were found to have been buried with iron fetters on their limbs. A total of 808 bodies were dug up and reinterred at Williamstown Cemetery, using 544 coffins and 263 small coffins, although the memorial stone for the Gellibrand vault (measuring approx. 31 x 19 feet) states that 920 bodies were transferred. Over a year later, in January 1901, a memorial was erected over the mass grave. This involved laying old ‘60lb rails’ some 18.5 feet (5.5m) long across the grave and encasing them in cement. The area was ‘enclosed by a low post and rail fence, comprising ornamental cast iron posts on finely axed bluestone bases and two rails made from galvanised gas piping.’ The surviving headstones were mounted on top of the vault, with some of the more decayed examples laid directly into the concrete. Two matching large bluestone obelisks, one dedicated by the Medland family, the other by the Freyer family, were the largest to be relocated. The promised memorial stone was not installed on the vault until July 1902. Designed by Melbourne stonemasons Chamber and Clutten (cnr Lonsdale & Exhibition Streets) and commissioned by the Railways Department, the pair of marble scrolls that were set on granite stone were completed by the end of 1902.

      It is significant that the neglected Point Gellibrand graves were duly recognised and commemorated at the turn of the century when the act of Australia’s Federation was stirring many deeds of thanksgiving to Victoria’s pioneers.

      In 1997 architectural consultants, Allom Lovell & Associates undertook a conditions survey and assessment of conservation works to the Point Gellibrand Vault. The report’s recommendations resulted in the removal of the headstones embedded into the concrete top of the vault.

      Summary of Works 1857-1899
      - 1857, 15 acre site laid out into 4 quadrants and subdivided into denominational sections, by Assistant Surveyor, William Martin.
      - 22 March 1858, first burial.
      - 1858-89 cemetery enclosed with timber fence and planted with shrubs, and trees such as pines, firs and cypresses. Timber rest house (or mortuary chapel) erected.
      - 1889, new picket to cemetery frontage erected and footpath along fence is asphalted; fifty grave labels purchased by trustees.
      - 1890, plans for fountain initiated.
      - September 1892 fountain completed by architectural modellers, Wardrop & Scurry.
      - 1898, shelter for prams erected, along with new boundary fence.
      - 1899, re-interment of Point Gellibrand burials; propagating yard converted into fernery.


      1900-1939
      Throughout these years a number of improvements were implemented. A new drainage plan to carry water away from the cemetery was introduced in the early years of the century. In September 1905 an extension of nearly fifteen acres to the north-western end of the cemetery was granted to the Trustees. In 1909 a red brick residence with slate roof, was constructed for the cemetery keeper by local builder, F. Marks.

      When Australia was federated in 1901, the naval forces of the separate colonies were united under the Australian Naval Board, which after ten years was re-named the Royal Australian Navy. Williamstown continued as a naval depot and dock-yard until 1921, and the cemetery continued to reflect its association with the locality. In 1904 a monument was erected in the cemetery to the officers and men of the permanent Victorian Naval Forces, marking the end of Williamstown’s long association with the Victorian Navy. In the same year there was the full-scale naval funeral of the late William Frazier-Roxburgh, a retired drill instructor in the Victorian Navy. He was buried with full naval honours. Petty Officer Charles C. Duffy, a physical education instructor on HMAS Encounter, was the first member of the Royal Australian Navy to be buried in the cemetery, in 1913, aged 23.

      Increasingly throughout the twentieth century there were complaints from the Trustees as well as visitors to the cemetery about the smoke and pollution issuing from the Newport Railway Workshops situated directly opposite the cemetery in Champion Road. The workshops which had been established in 1882 covering 130 acres, had 4500 employees. The complaints started in 1909 after ‘dense volumes of smoke’ from the complex’s chimney stacks began to engulf the cemetery grounds. Another protest was made to the workshops in 1913 specifically objecting to smoke and paint vapour. The problem continued and by 1920 the corrosive effects of the pollution were becoming particularly evident on the monuments as well as the caretaker’s cottage. The matter must have been solved by 1922 as there were no further complaints made by the cemetery Trustees.

      Summary of Works 1900-1939
      - 1900, Queenie memorial unveiled.
      - 1901, memorial constructed over Point Gellibrand re-burials.
      - 1902, marble tablet erected at Point Gellibrand Memorial.
      - 1903, new drainage system completed.
      - 1904, repairs to fountain; extension of cemetery approved, Naval Forces Memorial unveiled.
      - 1905, 15 acres added to the cemetery.
      - 1906, extension planted with trees.
      - 1907, top of fountain damaged by wind; land set aside for Baptist burials.
      - 1909, caretaker’s residence erected at cost of just over 601 pounds.
      - 1912, old store-yard removed; masterplan for entire cemetery site in existence by now.
      - 1913, two sheds built which Trustees let out to monumental masons wanting to store materials and tools.
      - 1917, the cottage and public toilets sewered (new red brick toilets?).
      - 1920 temporary wooden crosses erected in the cemetery in memory of those killed in WW1 (at least 265 locals died).
      - 1927, new roads laid out in new part of the cemetery.
      1931, unemployed returned soldiers build road in cemetery extension; palm trees planted
      - 1932, some neglected and dilapidated gravestones put in order by Cemetery Trust Secretary, Alexander Hick; portion set aside for Salvation Army burials.
      - 1933, front wooden fence flattened by wind.
      - 1934, floods damage cemetery.
      - 1936, fernery and fencing damaged by fire.
      - 1936-37, construction of new brick building consisting of the chapel, secretary’s office, manager’s office, strong room, and boardroom equipped with table, 12 chairs, desks and coat stand, opened 9 June 1937; old timber office building becomes public shelter.
      - 1939, entrance gates from St Kilda Council and 6 iron posts for front fence from Exhibition Gardens are erected.

      1940 Onwards
      Although cremations had been gradually gaining in preference to burials after the installation of first crematorium in Victoria at Fawkner Cemetery in 1927, it was not until 1945 that the matter began to be seriously discussed by the Trustees of the Williamstown Cemetery. In principal they decided to establish a crematorium, but it was felt that the existing cemetery would not be large enough for such a scheme. This resulted in the purchase of land on Geelong Road and the establishment of Memorial Park. Commitment to this new enterprise resulted in the generation of funds into the new project at the unfortunate expense of Williamstown Cemetery. By 1961 when the new cemetery opened, the Williamstown Cemetery was suffering from neglect and disrepair. Early that year there had been reports of sheep grazing in the grounds, and the fountain had long since been dry. In order to streamline maintenance at the old cemetery a number of reforms were introduced, one of which stipulated that in most cases memorials were to be restricted to slabs set at grass level and that vertical gravestones were to be no longer used. The impetus for this move had no doubt come from the trend set by the famous Forest Lawn in the USA Charges were increased by 25%, the option to sink graves to a depth of nine feet was withdrawn, and graves were no longer to be maintained in perpetuity.

      Today (1999) Williamstown Cemetery is appreciated for its historical, aesthetic and social importance. Conservation works have been undertaken to the Gellibrand Vault, the fountain is bubbling again, and the palm avenue is maintained. The cemetery continues to be used for burials, and these burials importantly reflect Williamstown’s post-war demographics. Some graves continue to reflect its residents’ association with the sea. For example Leo Felix’s grave of 1967 has a ship etched into the headstone. Some of the memorials in the newer Orthodox section have returned to the vertical style, and there is now even talk of introducing a Buddhist section in response to new trends, demands and population changes.

      Summary of Works 1940+
      - 1941, Moreton Bay fig tree removed, new mens toilet erected.
      - 1961, fountain long since dry is filled with pebble soil and planted; rest house removed and relocated to Westall Methodist Church near Clayton, then more recently relocated to a country resort at Kyneton and used as a wedding chapel.
      - 1962-63, lawn sections A & B developed on former garden.
      - 1966, old residence is demolished, and replaced with current cream brick building; new sheds erected; land made available for addition lawn section.
      - c.1979, in-ground crypts introduced.
      - 1980, Williamstown Cemetery designated A in survey of Victoria’s cemeteries ? cemetery trust determines to restore Williamstown Cemetery.
      - c.1985, Orthodox section opened.
      - 1990, front iron gates and flanking fencing refurbished.
      - 1993, spoon drains installed.
      - 1994, Buddhist section under consideration.
      Associated People: Captain Lawrence Lawson; Owen Owens; Robert Ellery; George Wilkinson; Dr William Storey; Thomas Mason

      Assessment Against Criteria

      WILLIAMSTOWN CEMETERY - Assessment Against Criteria

      Criterion A
      The historical importance, association with or relationship to Victoria's history of the place or object.
      The Cemetery is historically important for its associations with the history of Williamstown and the early maritime activities of Melbourne. The gravestones, memorials and monuments commemorate the lives of pioneers, naval and military men, sailors, prominent Melbourne citizens and ordinary men, women, and children, recording their contribution to the settlement of the colony, and charting many a life and death relationship with the sea. The Point Gellibrand vault is historically important as an early memorial to Melbourne's pioneers, and its associated gravestones are significant for being among the State's earliest funerary artefacts.

      Criterion B
      The importance of a place or object in demonstrating rarity or uniqueness.

      Criterion C
      The place or object's potential to educate, illustrate or provide further scientific investigation in relation to Victoria's cultural heritage.

      Criterion D
      The importance of a place or object in exhibiting the principal characteristics or the representative nature of a place or object as part of a class or type of places or objects.

      Criterion E
      The importance of the place or object in exhibiting good design or aesthetic characteristics and/or in exhibiting a richness, diversity or unusual integration of features.
      The Cemetery exhibits significant aesthetic characteristics with its mid-nineteenth century layout which demonstrates prevailing Picturesque ideas about cemetery design. This value is significantly enhanced by the central focus of the ornate fountain, mature exotic trees, and large collection of gravestones and other examples of funerary art which dominate as the major visual element. The entrance gates and Tudor-revival office are contributory aesthetic features.
      The cemetery is of architectural importance for its rare nineteenth century fountain designed by architectural modellers, Wardrop & Scurry. The gravestones and memorials are important for displaying craftsmanship and design characteristics of various periods.

      Criterion F
      The importance of the place or object in demonstrating or being associated with scientific or technical innovations or achievements.
      The Williamstown Cemetery is of scientific (horticultural) importance for the presence of traditional funerary plantings such as palms and pines.

      Criterion G
      The importance of the place or object in demonstrating social or cultural associations.
      Williamstown Cemetery is socially important for its representation of burial practices, religious affiliations, values and tastes from the pre-goldrush years to the twentieth century. It has further social importance as a focus of sentiment, and for the insight it provides into a community whose fortunes were once inextricably tied to the sea.

      Criterion H
      Any other matter which the Council considers relevant to the determination of cultural heritage significance

      Permit Exemptions

      WILLIAMSTOWN CEMETERY - Permit Exemptions

      General Exemptions:

      General exemptions apply to all places and objects included in the Victorian Heritage Register (VHR). General exemptions have been designed to allow everyday activities, maintenance and changes to your property, which don’t harm its cultural heritage significance, to proceed without the need to obtain approvals under the Heritage Act 2017.

      Places of worship: In some circumstances, you can alter a place of worship to accommodate religious practices without a permit, but you must notify the Executive Director of Heritage Victoria before you start the works or activities at least 20 business days before the works or activities are to commence.

      Subdivision/consolidation: Permit exemptions exist for some subdivisions and consolidations. If the subdivision or consolidation is in accordance with a planning permit granted under Part 4 of the Planning and Environment Act 1987 and the application for the planning permit was referred to the Executive Director of Heritage Victoria as a determining referral authority, a permit is not required.

      Specific exemptions may also apply to your registered place or object. If applicable, these are listed below. Specific exemptions are tailored to the conservation and management needs of an individual registered place or object and set out works and activities that are exempt from the requirements of a permit. Specific exemptions prevail if they conflict with general exemptions.

      Find out more about heritage permit exemptions here.

      Specific Exemptions:

      General Conditions:
      1. All exempted alterations are to be planned and carried out in a manner which prevents damage to the fabric of the registered place or object.
      2. Should it become apparent during further inspection or the carrying out of alterations that original or previously hidden or inaccessible details of the place or object are revealed which relate to the significance of the place or object, then the exemption covering such alteration shall cease and the Executive Director shall be notified as soon as possible.
      3. If there is a conservation policy and plan approved by the Executive Director, all works shall be in accordance with it.
      4. Nothing in this declaration prevents the Executive Director from amending or rescinding all or any of the permit exemptions.
      Nothing in this declaration exempts owners or their agents from the responsibility to seek relevant planning or building permits from the responsible authority where applicable.

      General:
      * Interments, burials and erection of monuments, reuse of graves, burial of cremated remains, and exhumation of remains in accordance with the Cemeteries Act 1958, and amendments.
      * Stabilisation, restoration, and repair of monuments.
      * Emergency and safety works to secure the site, and prevent damage and injury to property and the public.
      * Monument works undertaken in accordance with Australian Standard, Headstones and Cemetery Monuments AS 4204.
      * Demolition, alteration or removal of buildings and monuments not specified in the extent of registration.
      * Painting of previously painted structures provided that preparation or painting does not remove evidence of the original paint or other decorative scheme.

      Fountain
      * Minor repairs and maintenance.

      Entrance gates
      * Minor repairs and maintenance.
      * Painting of gates and pillars in appropriate heritage colours.

      Exterior of office building:
      * Minor repairs and maintenance which replace like with like.
      * Painting of previously painted surfaces in the same colour.

      Interior of office building:
      * Painting of previously painted surfaces provided that preparation or painting does not remove evidence of the original paint or other decorative scheme.
      * Removal of paint from originally unpainted or oiled joinery, doors, architraves, skirtings and decorative strapping.
      * Installation, removal or replacement of carpets and/or flexible floor coverings.
      * Installation, removal or replacement of curtain track, rods, blinds and other window dressings.
      * Installation, removal or replacement of hooks, nails and other devices for the hanging of mirrors, paintings and other wall mounted artworks.
      * Installation, removal or replacement of electrical wiring provided that all new wiring is fully concealed and any original light switches, pull cords, push buttons or power outlets are retained in-situ. Note: if wiring original to the place was carried in timber conduits then the conduits should remain in-situ.
      * Installation, removal or replacement of bulk insulation in the roof space.
      * Installation, removal or replacement of smoke detectors.

      Layout
      * Repairs, conservation and maintenance to hard landscape elements, buildings and structures, ornaments, roads and paths, fences and gates, drainage and irrigation systems.
      * Maintenance of roads and paths and gutters to retain their existing plan layout.

      Landscape
      * The process of gardening and maintenance to care for the cemetery landscape, planting themes, bulbs and shrubs, and removal of dead plants.
      * Management of plants in accordance with Australian Standard, Pruning of amenity trees AS 4373.
      * Removal of vegetation to maintain fire safety and to protect monuments, paths, registered buildings and structures.
      * Removal of plants listed as Prohibited and Controlled Weeds in the Catchment and Land Protection Act 1994.
      * Replanting to retain the existing landscape themes and character.

      Permit Exemption Policy

      WILLIAMSTOWN CEMETERY - Permit Exemption Policy

      The importance of the cemetery is principally due to its collection of 19th century elements. Of significance are the gravestones dating from the 1850s and 1860s. The Point Gellibrand Vault, comprising burials and monuments (21 horizontal tablets, 2 obelisks, 5 vertical tablets and 1 memorial stone) relocated from Point Gellibrand, and selected monuments are significant.

      The formal layout framed by palm avenues, perimeter planting of conifers and specimens of palms and pines, is a fine example of cemetery design. The rare fountain, Tudor Revival office, entrance gates, and compartment markers contribute to the cemetery's significance.

      Works should be in accordance with the Williamstown Cemetery Plan prepared for the Trustees of the Williamstown Public Cemetery by Nigel Lewis Richard Aitken P/L (1994).

Public contributions

Note: Developments may span multiple time periods
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