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Dunwich Benevolent Asylum Cemetery

Memorials	:	373
Location	:	Dunwich, Redland City, Australia
Coordinate	:	-27.4947600, 153.4040300
Description	:	All inmates of the Dunwich Benevolent Asylum that died are now buried in un-marked graves within the Dunwich Cemetery. To separate the inmates from those who are buried in the Cemetery - this site needs to remain separate. The Plaques are still in the ground but over time have sunk below the surface. There is a WALL within the Cemetery where descendants of inmates can request a plaque of their "loved one" to be placed available through the Redland City Council at your cost. Proof of Internment is required so the use of the Admission Record on these graves can be... Read More	All inmates of the Dunwich Benevolent Asylum that died are now buried in un-marked graves within the Dunwich Cemetery. To separate the inmates from those who are buried in the Cemetery - this site needs to remain separate. The Plaques are still in the ground but over time have sunk below the surface. There is a WALL within the Cemetery where descendants of inmates can request a plaque of their "loved one" to be placed available through the Redland City Council at your cost. Proof of Internment is required so the use of the Admission Record on these graves can be used. NOTE - Death Certificates of Inmates can be obtained from Qld BDMs for a reasonable price. For those interest - the information given in the Dunwich Records held by Qld State Archives gives - 1. Name and Age. 2. Date of Admission 3. Cause of Admission. 4. Place of Birth 5. Occupation / Profession 6. Next of Kin - Father's Name and Mother's Maiden Name 7. Details of How/When/Where/and Why he/she came to Austraia. 8. Fate of Inmate eg Date of Death or Discharged. Dunwich Benevolent Asylum Benevolent asylums were established in all the Australian colonies in the nineteenth century. In NSW and Victoria they were established as religious charities. In Queensland, however, the state took responsibility and the Queensland Benevolent Asylum Act of 1861 funded hospitals to have ‘asylum wards’. In 1865 the Colonial Government proposed that an asylum ward for the sick and poor be established at the new general hospital site at Herston. Under ‘public pressure’ the colony government decided in 1866 to relocate the asylum on a ‘temporary’ basis to the Dunwich Quarantine Station. It started with 80–90 inmates, confused funding and a drunk as Director. The Asylum operated at Dunwich from 1865–1946 and served the whole of Queensland as a public institution for the poor and destitute. The indigent of Queensland were despatched and confined there. Dunwich also became a lazaret for “white” patients and place of commitment under the Inebriates Institutions Act 1896. These two functions moved to Peel Island, also in Moreton Bay, in 1907 and 1910 respectively. The asylum admitted 21,000 people over its eighty years. From the 1890s to 1946 there were around 1,000 inmates present at any one time with 1,600 in its peak year of 1903. The Asylum had over twenty wards — including a distinct women’s section and a separate ward for ‘Asiatics’. By 1930s, it included a police station and lock up, visitor centre, public hall, bakery, kitchen, laundry and ancillary service buildings, ward buildings, tent accommodation and recreational facilities. It was only electrified in 1926 with its own power station using oil generators. It had a dairy herd and piggery. Inmates were predominately though not exclusively old. People could be assigned to the asylum by a hospital, by police order or by their families. It seems that many of the inebriate men were confined by their spouses. Inmates came from across Queensland with a very detailed process of getting them by boat and/or rail from the north and the west to the Yungaba immigration depot at Kangaroo Point and then by boat to Dunwich. Six times as many men as women were inmates. The backgrounds were mainly rural and urban workers with, in the nineteenth century, a considerable number of people who had been transported to the Australian colonies as convicts. There was, though, a sprinkling of middle class people fallen on hard times or drink. One was John Filhelly, Deputy Leader of the ALP under Theodore and one of the founders of the Queensland Rugby League who is listed in the Australian Dictionary of Biography. Another was Johnny Cassim, who was of Indian origin and transported as a convict from Mauritius to become an hotelier and respected citizen of Cleveland. The Asylum was always inadequately staffed and funded. In current (2013) values Queensland Government funding was $1,900 per person/per year in 1900 and $2,900 in 1932. In the twentieth century, inmates who received a Commonwealth old age pension paid part of this to the Asylum. The operating principle was that able-bodied inmates were meant to perform work and staff the asylum. Unfortunately, apart from some of the inebriates, age prevented most inmates doing a full day’s labour. From the 1880s to 1920s there were rarely more than 20 official staff to 900 to 1,000 inmates. The Asylum needed cheap and permanent labour. It got it from the Quandamooka Aboriginal people of the Island who lived at One Mile outside Dunwich, and who did what Goodall says was “heavy and unpleasant work” from the 1870s. By the 1920s up to 30 Aboriginal men were in the ‘outside gang’ which included the dairy and piggery. Some Aboriginal men were in trade, skilled and semiskilled jobs including carpentry and operating the power station. Around 15 Aboriginal women were employed as cooks, nursing assistants and domestics including in the houses of the senior staff of the Asylum. The Aboriginal workers formed a substantial part of the total work force for the asylum, at times over half, right up to its closure in 1946. (Text originally published in an article called “Dunwich Asylum Mess Hall is 100”, in The Queensland Journal of Labour History, No. 18 March 2014, from the Brisbane Labour History Association, by Elisabeth Gondwe, Howard Guille and Lisa Jackson.)

frequently asked questions (FAQ):

Where is Dunwich Benevolent Asylum Cemetery?
Dunwich Benevolent Asylum Cemetery is located at Bingel Road Dunwich, Redland City ,Queensland ,Australia.
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373 memorials
Where are the coordinates of the Dunwich Benevolent Asylum Cemetery?
Latitude: -27.4947600
Longitude: 153.4040300

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Nearby Cemetories:

1. Dunwich Cemetery
Dunwich, Redland City, Australia
Coordinate: -27.4943961, 153.4037894

2. Moongalba Aboriginal Cemetery
Dunwich, Redland City, Australia
Coordinate: -27.4919558, 153.4061137

3. Dunwich Lazarat Cemetery
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Coordinate: -27.5077854, 153.4141340

4. Peel Island Cemetery
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Coordinate: -27.4954200, 153.3460100

5. Coochiemudlo Island Pine Ridge Chapel
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Coordinate: -27.5735700, 153.3301700

6. Redlands Pioneer Cemetery
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Coordinate: -27.5284472, 153.2566800

7. Cleveland Cemetery
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Coordinate: -27.5293750, 153.2544708

8. Redland Bay Cemetery
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Coordinate: -27.6098000, 153.2892590

9. Saint Mary Mackillop Church Cremation Wall
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Coordinate: -27.4974639, 153.2285363

10. St. Mary Mackillop Columbarium
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Coordinate: -27.4974353, 153.2284627

11. St Helena Island Prisoners' Cemetery
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Coordinate: -27.3944260, 153.2310660

12. St Helena Island Warders' Children's Cemetery
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Coordinate: -27.3944260, 153.2310660

13. Serpentine Creek Cemetery
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Coordinate: -27.6695213, 153.3011932

14. Great Southern Garden of Remembrance
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Coordinate: -27.6526660, 153.2393650

15. Mount Cotton Lutheran Cemetery
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Coordinate: -27.6591409, 153.2333731

16. Hemmant Cemetery and Crematorium
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Coordinate: -27.4678001, 153.1339111

17. Alberton Cemetery
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Coordinate: -27.7112160, 153.2663420

18. Gibson Island Plague Cemetery (Defunct)
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Coordinate: -27.4303333, 153.1269444

19. Dennis Family Cemetery
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Coordinate: -27.6250600, 153.1566000

20. Tingalpa Christ Church Cemetery
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Coordinate: -27.4727272, 153.1117449

21. Eagleby Cemetery
Eagleby, Logan City, Australia
Coordinate: -27.6949654, 153.2108917

22. Bethesda Pioneer Cemetery
Eagleby, Logan City, Australia
Coordinate: -27.7101910, 153.2247350

23. Rochedale Catholic Church Cemetery
Rochedale, Brisbane City, Australia
Coordinate: -27.5926510, 153.1217540

24. Saint Mark's Anglican Cemetery
Daisy Hill, Logan City, Australia
Coordinate: -27.6434090, 153.1489350

Dunwich Benevolent Asylum Cemetery

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