McLeod Street Pioneer Cemetery is a treasure trove of information about the amazing Pioneers of Cairns and surrounding district.
McLeod Street was not the first cemetery in Cairns; the first was on the Esplanade, and has completely disappeared along with most of the records. Cairns Family History fortunately does hold some of these.
McLeod Street Cemetery was not without problems though. When it rained, some burials could not take place, or coffins had to be weighted down because the water table would cause them to rise from the ground.
It has seen some bad times, with headstones damaged beyond repair, goats let to graze there, and weeds and trees took over.
Friends of McLeod Street was formed in 1996 and so began an amazing restoration process. This is an outstanding Heritage listed asset of Cairns Regional Council, who have done a tremendous amount of work at the cemetery and continue to do so.
For the past 6 years, Cairns Family History, through Shadows from the Past, have been bringing the lives of some of these early Pioneers buried there, back to life. Not just the well-known people but the everyday person who contributed to making Cairns what it is now.
Shadows from the Past dramatized walks are now in the process of preparing for the 2019 walks and tickets are now on sale from Ticketlink (www.ticketlink.com.au).
The dramatised evening walks of the McLeod St Pioneer Cemetery will be filling the cemetery with haunting sounds and sights again.
