Rosedale Cemetery

11/03/2026

The Rosedale Cemetery trust would like to acknowledge the contribution that Tony Smith has made to the trust.
Over 40 years service has come to an end after Tony decided not to reapply for his appointment on the trust.
Tony has helped the trust in many ways over this very long time being a past president as well.
Without volunteers like Tony the trust would not be able to function at all and we thank him & Geraldine for the many hours that has helped to make the cemetery what it is today.
Thank you Tony from members of the Cemetery Trust.

21/09/2025

Catherine Ferguson nee Linton (1807–1868) aka Kitty Jones.
Catherine Linton was born on 27 August 1807 in the Parish of Girvan, Ayrshire, Scotland, to Thomas Linton and Elizabeth Hector. Her early life in Ayrshire remains largely undocumented, but by her late twenties, she had come into contact with the Scottish justice system.
On 14 April 1835, Catherine was convicted at the Ayr Court of Justiciary for larceny from a person, including pocket-picking. She was sentenced to seven years’ transportation. On 11 June 1835, she departed Scotland aboard the convict ship Hector, one of 134 female prisoners bound for Van Diemen’s Land. The vessel arrived on 20 October 1835.
Upon arrival, Catherine was recorded in the Description List under Indent No. 149. She was noted as a plain cook, house servant, and laundress, standing 4 feet 11 inches tall. She served three years at the penitentiary before beginning a new chapter in Tasmania.
On 5 February 1838, Catherine married fellow convict James Ferguson (1807–1848) in Campbell Town. James had been sentenced to death at the Old Bailey in London for theft from a premises at St George Hanover Square. He pleaded guilty and was convicted on 17 February 1825. Transported for life aboard the Medway, he arrived in Van Diemen’s Land on 14 December 1825 and was assigned to Mr W. Kearney, remaining in service there at least until 1832. He obtained a ticket of leave around 1833 and was pardoned about 1838.
Catherine and James had at least two sons. Their first, James Ferguson (1838–1904), was born on 6 December 1838 in Avoca, Tasmania, where his father was recorded as a shepherd. He was baptised on 19 January 1839 in the Parish of Campbell Town. A second son was born on 3 November 1844, also in Avoca, with James listed as a tanner. It is likely the second son died in infancy.
Catherine’s sentence formally ended on 14 April 1842. Six years later, on 1 March 1848, James Ferguson died in Campbell Town.
Following James’s death, Catherine remarried. Around 1848, she became the wife of Edward Jones (1820–1881), though the location of their marriage remains unknown. Jones was also a former convict.
On 17 March 1849, Catherine gave birth to a daughter, Elizabeth “Lizzie” Jones (1849–1907), on the Tarra Survey in the Port Phillip District.
On 26 August 1853, Catherine entered into a third marriage with Robert Felix Ratcliffe (1830–1903), solemnised at the Tarra by the Reverend W. Bean. However, the union was short-lived. In a sworn statement made in 1864, she recounted:
“I know a person of the name of Robert Ratcliffe. I was married to a person of that name about eleven years ago (but I cannot say exactly), at the Tarra, by the Rev. W. Bean. I did not live with Robert Ratcliffe. I left him a few days after I was married to him on my hearing that he was a married man. I went to reside at Dandenong. I heard he was a married man about a week after the marriage. After the marriage I went to my own house; I would not let Ratcliffe come into my house. I have been Mrs Ratcliffe since I was married. I have never troubled Ratcliffe. I was a widow at the time I married him; my maiden name was Linton. After I was married I went to my own house and not to that of my husband’s—he had not one; he was living with his mother. He came to my house one night with his sister. I did not recognize him in any way whatever as my husband. I did hear of a Mrs Ratcliffe before I married Ratcliffe. I have been married twice—my former husband’s name was Ferguson; he has been dead nineteen years.”
On 9 January 1868, Catherine Ferguson (also known locally as Kitty Jones) was tragically killed in a dray accident on the road between Port Albert and Rosedale. At the time, she was working as housekeeper to Mr Joseph John Bould of Merton Station on Merriman’s Creek. Seeking transport to Rosedale, she boarded a dray driven by carrier John Waite, which was loaded with ale and porter. Approximately five miles from Rosedale, the dray struck a stump and overturned, crushing Catherine beneath its load. She remained trapped for nearly an hour before help arrived, but was already deceased.
An inquest held the following day at Cansick’s Hotel in Rosedale confirmed that Catherine had died instantly from massive chest injuries. Witnesses testified that she had been drinking prior to the journey, but the driver was sober and experienced. The jury concluded that her death was caused by the accidental overturning of the dray. Catherine was interred in the original section at Rosedale Cemetery on 11 January 1868. The location of her grave is unknown. She was approximately 63 years old and remembered as a long-standing resident of Gippsland.
Catherine’s life spanned convict transportation, three marriages, and decades of resilience across Van Diemen’s Land and colonial Victoria. She left behind children from her earlier unions and a legacy woven into the early fabric of Gippsland’s settler history.

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16/05/2025

28/04/2024

Great day to do some cleanup around the cemetery. Thanks to our volunteers we were able to rake the leaves and grass, clean up the shelter, add mulch to the garden beds and burn off some of the sticks and branches. Our cemetery is looking great.

21/01/2024

The Rosedale Cemetery Trust has recently installed security cameras at the cemetery. They were purchased and installed with the assistance of a Wellington Shire Council Quick Response Grant. The Rosedale Cemetery Trust appreciates this support in providing facilities that help to maintain the security at the cemetery and keep it looking at its best.

04/01/2024

CAN YOU ID THIS TRAILER?

See original post for details.

06/08/2023

Greening Rosedale Cemetery, Part II.
Recently the cemetery trust volunteers planted an addition 52 Crimson Sentry Maple trees (Acer platenoides ‘Crimson Sentry’) at the cemetery. How good is our cemetery going to look in a few months and a few years! 🌳🌳🌳🌳

04/05/2023

Greening Rosedale Cemetery.
Recently the cemetery trust volunteers planted 36 ornamental pear trees (Pyrus Calleryana ‘Capital’). We are extremely thankful for a bequest left to the cemetery trust which has enabled us to carry out these improvements at the cemetery.🌳🌳🌳🌳

12/12/2022

Free Life Chronicle to celebrate the lives of your loved ones.
At Rosedale Cemetery we use the Chronicle database to record and maintain records of the burials at the cemetery.
Life Chronicle is a new feature to create online memorials for the deceased and let others know their life stories.
This December is a time for us to honour the lives that have touched our hearts, and Chronicle wants to make it easier for families to remember the departed loved ones with Life Chronicle.
Learn more about Life Chronicle here: https://chronicle.rip/life-chronicle/
Let’s preserve the legacy of our family with Life Chronicle.
(*$1 administration fee will be charged to the client per submission)
The Rosedale Cemetery database on Chronicle can be accessed here: https://map.chronicle.rip/rosedale-cemetery

24/10/2022

Sarah Blake (1802—1864)
Sarah Phillips was born in Bristol, England, on 19 September 1802, to William Phillips and Martha Hawkes. At eighteen years of age she was convicted of theft at the Bristol City Quarter Sessions on 30 April 1821. She was sentenced to 7 years transportation, which departed 7 September 1822 on the ship Lord Sidmouth and arrived at Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania) on 27 February 1823.
As we see her life unfold it becomes very obvious that she was a tough woman of spirit, who rebelled against authority. On the voyage out the Ship’s Surgeon of the Lord Sidmouth commented on Sarah, “She was punished with confinement in the Coal Hole for riotous behavior last night after dark in the prison”, and “Again confined in the Coal Hole for having said last night after I had released them, they did not value me, (?) many (?) hard words of indecorous meaning.”
Sarah was assigned to a man named Dunn when she arrived in Van Diemen’s Land in March 1823; she rebelled against the order, was charged with insolence and neglect of duty, and sentenced to bread and water and one week in gaol.
This is where she met and married James Ratcliffe, a convict who was 24 years old and who had completed his sentence. In this same year Sarah was charged with harbouring a girl who had run away from home. James and Sarah lived on three acres of land in a weatherboard and shingle house. They had 100 sheep.
In the next twelve years Sarah bore six children, five boys and one girl. Eight years into their marriage they had one bit of luck; James received a reward of twenty-five pounds for capturing a bush ranger single-handed. This was a sizeable sum in those days.
Some five years later however tragedy was to strike when James died aged 41 years. Sarah put three of the children into an orphanage; the eldest boy was kept being old enough to work on the farm. She also kept the two youngest at home. Some sixteen months later Sarah bore another child and the father was believed to be a Spanish sailor.
In 1840 Sarah married again, this time to a ticket-of-leave man, Thomas Blake, who continued to work on the farm. After one year Sarah gave birth to twins and a year later bore her tenth child. Her last and eleventh child was born in 1845. The marriage broke up and Sarah met another convict, Richard English, with whom she was to stay for eighteen years. In 1849, eighteen years after her seven-year sentence had been completed, Sarah finally received her Certificate of Freedom.
Sarah and the whole family moved to the mainland and they settled at Tarraville in Gippsland where they purchased a number of blocks of land.
After thirteen years, Richard left Sarah, for another woman. There followed a bitter period of two years with wrangling over ownership of property. There was rather a sad end to her life with Sarah dying of old age, aged 62 years.
Her daughter had moved to Rosedale who she lived with in her remaining years.
Sarah Blake is one of the earliest burials recorded in the Rosedale Cemetery.
A family reunion was held in Rosedale where a plaque was unveiled on 26th October 2008.
There are no known photos of Sarah.
This story and photographs (taken 2008) were provided by Raelene Strong. The red gum head board of Sarah's daughter, Mrs Portch, shown in the photograph is no longer located at the cemetery.

29/09/2022

National Police Remembrance Day 2022. In memory of Mounted Constable Patrick Conarty [Conaty], Victoria Police, who was accidentally killed near Moe on 27th of May 1862 (160 years ago), aged 27 years.

In Memory of Mounted Constable Patrick Conarty [Conaty] who died the 27th of May 1862, aged 27 years.

This plaque was installed on the grave of Mounted Constable Patrick Conarty in the old section of the Rosedale Cemetery by the Victoria Police in 1991 in recognition of a member of the Victoria Police who was killed while on duty. Constable Conaty was accidentally killed by the falling of a tree while on duty escorting prisoners to Dandenong.

Patrick Conaty was born in Ireland about 1835. He probably arrived in Melbourne on the ship Marian Moore, 30 December 1854, He was single and had no relatives or next of kin in the colony.

Patrick Conaty was appointed to the position of constable in the Police Department in Victoria on the 19th of August 1858. Constable Conaty was stationed in the Port Albert area between December 1859 and February 1861 where he gave evidence in court cases relating to arrests that he made: Tarraville (December 1859), Palmerston (December 1859 to February 1860), Tarraville (April 1860 to May 1860), Palmerston (May 1860), Tarraville (July 1860), and Port Albert (February 1861). Constable Conaty was stationed at Sale from September 1861 where he gave evidence in court cases relating to arrests that he made.

Conaty's service record detailed that he was 5’ 8¾” (175 cm) in height with blue eyes, fair hair and fair complexion. He was remembered as being an unpretending and inoffensive man, and as a police officer he was considered trustworthy and prompt; he secured the esteem and good wishes of all who knew him.

On the night of 26 April 1862 two horses went missing from the stable of Mr Bergin’s public house in Springvale. This was reported to the police, and after several days of investigation the horses had been traced into Gippsland, in the possession of two men heading to Mr Pearson’s [presumably at Sale]. Several witnesses from different localities provided information that two men were riding the stolen horses as they progressed along the Melbourne Road. By the 30 April the men had lost the horses somewhere between Shady Creek and Moe. During the search Constable Conaty obtained some information relating to the offenders from a man working at the Moe swamp improvement works. The horses were afterwards found by Conaty near Moe. Constable Feely arrested the two men, but did not have sufficient proof, so they were discharged. However, within a day or two, Sergeant MacDonald had received further information and the two men were re-arrested.

On Monday the 26th of May Constable Conaty and Sergeant MacDonald left Sale in charge of returning the two prisoners to Dandenong to face justice. On Tuesday, about mid-day, they arrived at the Eagle Hotel on the Moe Creek, and learned that Michael Kennedy, a material witnesses in the case, was engaged by Mr Cobain on contract work on the Moe side of the Narracan Creek. Ten minutes after leaving the hotel Conaty, MacDonald and the prisoners found the Kennedy and John Lear grubbing a tree on the roadside. The party stopped and Conaty dismounted so that he could speak to the Kennedy. Sergeant MacDonald and the prisoners remained close by. During the conversation there was unexpected cracking within the tree and Kennedy shouted to clear the people from the area. Conaty was some few yards from his horse when the tree started to fall. When Conaty realised that the falling tree would hit his horse he instinctively tried to save his horse, but a branch of the falling tree struck him on the side of his head and broke his skull. The horse was also struck along one side, but, unfortunately, Conaty could not get his horse out of the line of descent, and a branch hit him on the head causing a cut from two to three inches in length in the back of the head. By some lucky chance Sergeant MacDonald and the prisoners got out of the way of the falling tree. Conaty was immediately taken back to the Eagle Hotel, where all was done that could be, in the absence of medical aid, but nothing could be done to staunch the flow of blood from the wound. He subsequently died at one o’clock the following morning.

Constable Feely was sent to accompany the District Coroner, Dr Arbuckle, to Moe. On Friday Dr Arbuckle held an inquest on the body, and a verdict of accidental death “from a wound in the head received by the fall of a tree” was returned.

Mr B Franklin, a carpenter, who happened to be working at the hotel made a coffin from the flooring of one of the rooms as there were no other boards available in the district.

Constable Feely made the funeral arrangements and on Saturday Conaty’s body was taken back to Rosedale (the nearest cemetery) for interment. The cortege met with the greatest sympathy and kindness on the journey from Moe to Rosedale. On Sunday the remains of Patrick Conaty were interred in the Rosedale Cemetery. He was followed to the grave by a considerable number of local people who were anxious to provide one last tribute of respect to the constable who in every way was well worthy of their esteem.

Patrick Conaty died in the line of duty and was approved to receive the Victoria Police Star. However, it has not yet been presented as no family members have come forward.