Riverside Cemetery

A National Trust tour group visiting Riverside cemetery with guide Gillian Kelly.

How to get there

From the Canberra and Region Visitors Centre drive under Commonwealth Bridge on Barrine Drive, and turn right onto Albert Street, then back north on Commonwealth Avenue. Take the second exit in 500m onto Parkes Way east and past the airport and onto Queanbeyan. Turn right at the roundabout onto Monaro Street, right again at the lights into Crawford Street and right again into Erin Street.

Why is this interesting?

Riverside Cemetery is a fine early example of the state designing the burial ground instead of the church. However, the multidenominational areas were managed by the churches.

As you look at the tombstones you will notice a variety of styles, from the earliest tombstone in 1847 to the more ornate Victorian ones, through to the 1970s, where engraved information becomes very concise.

It may look like there is still room for further burials, however there are hundreds of unmarked graves and the cemetery is closed to further interment.