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Ellis Gateway at Nillumbik Cemetery
35 Main Street DIAMOND CREEK, NILLUMBIK SHIRE

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Nillumbik Shire

Nillumbik cemetery and gates

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Statement of Significance
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Statement of Significance

Nillumbik Cemetery is of regional significance

- for its association with the early history of the township and as a record of the pioneering families of the district

- for the significant plantings: pines that date to the foundation and laying out of the cemetery in the late 1860s, and a boundary cypress row that dates to the 1920s

- for its associated structures, such as the timber sexton's cottage which help complete the sense of period at the cemetery

The Ellis gateway is of state significance

- as exhibiting a rare design in ornamental gateways, which is also relatively large for the size of the cemetery

- for its association with William Ellis, notable early settler and benefactor

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- Physical Description 1
  
  Ellis Gateway at Nillumbik Cemetery - Physical Description 1
  
  Tuck pointed red brick, distinctive Tudor revival Ellis gateway, with a rendered entablature bearing the letters JANVA VITAE on one side and William Ellis's name on the other with the date 1897 (bequest), a basalt impost course and plinth, rendered buttress copings, wrought-iron gates, timber picketed gates set in adjacent chain-wire on timber frame and shaped posts; weatherboarded (chamfer board) octagonal pavilion store with finial, corrugated iron roof. Layout simple linear rows, white quartz surfaced paths now grown over, some iron markers. Italian and/or funereal or Bhutan ('Cupressus torulosa'?) cypress among planting with mature Monterey cypress hedge at front, oleander just inside entrance gateway (similarities to St Helena Greensborough, nearby?), some mature native planting ('Acacia melanoxylon') and inappropriate raised native garden beds at entrance and later shelters. Recent wire and paling fences to side and rear.
  
  Graves include an old group on the main drive.
  
  Memorials to: WiIIiam SCameron, killed on the Victorian Railways 20.1.1886 erected by fellow workmen, made by WH Williams of Hotham; Ann Gregory 27.1.1891; : Children of John & Honor Lawrey, 1869- (made by Cross & Co., Simpsons Road, Collingwood); Rosamond Wilson (Cross & Co) 7.1878 et. a1.; Boyd family; Godburgh family grave and garden via Wilson family; Cummings; Jackson; George Stebbings; James Whyte, killed in the Diamond Mine, 12.5.1908 (white marble, poor condition).
  
  Other masons include Chambers & Clutten, Corben,
  
  Historical Australian Themes
  
  Ellis Gateway at Nillumbik Cemetery - Historical Australian Themes
  
  Early Communities
  
  Community growth- local government
  
  Heritage Study and Grading
  
  Heritage Study and Grading
  
  Nillumbik - Nillumbik Shire Heritage Study
  
  Author: Graeme Butler & Assoc
  Year: 1997
  Grading:
- Show:
- MAROONDAH AQUEDUCT, INCLUDING ALL ASSOCIATED STRUCTURES AND WORKS
  
  Nillumbik Shire
- Sugargum, Nillumbik Farm
  
  Nillumbik Shire
- Diamond Creek Cricket Reserve and tree rows
  
  Nillumbik Shire