Beverley Primitive Methodist Cemetery (Adelaide, SA) | park

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From weekly-times-messenger.whereilive.com.au/news/story/150...


A SMALL park in Beverley is the final resting place for more than 300 people but you wouldn’t know it simply by driving past.

Nestled between a cluster of factories at the corner of Howards Rd and Woolgina St is the former Beverley Primitive Methodist Cemetery, offering a fascinating glimpse into the district’s history.

Although the chapel which once graced the site is long gone, and only about 30 headstones remain, a total 317 burials were recorded at the graveyard between 1859-1947.

Woodville Historical Society member Gino Chinca says the memorial park is an important part of the western suburbs’ history.

“We have to honour our pioneers they were the people who did all the hard work, the hard slog to get us to where we are today,” he says.

Mr Chinca says when the land was given to the trustees of the Primitive Methodist Chapel in 1855 by prominent local landowner, Sackfield Asplin, Beverley would have been largely farming country, dotted with dairies and lucerne crops.

Mr Asplin was later buried in the cemetery, along with two of his children and a number of other leading citizens of the era, including brickmaker and community leader John Headdy.

Mr Chinca says Mr Headdy had arrived from England in 1852, and settled on his own land in William St, Beverley, the following year.

“He then started mining clay and making bricks,” Mr Chinca says.

“He was the first brickmaker in the area and the most successful. He was also a councillor with both the Hindmarsh and Woodville district councils, and one of the first roads made after he joined the Hindmarsh council was one which went past his front door.”

Mr Headdy died a very wealthy man in 1892.

Bennett, Dowling, Jeanes, Hewitt, Marsh, Williams and Willsmore are other prominent surnames.

The Primitive Methodist congregation moved to Kilkenny in 1902 and, although the cemetery remained in use until the mid-1940s, interest declined and maintenance became an issue.

It was rededicated as a park by the then Woodville Council in 1980, with the headstones rearranged and a rose garden added.

Mr Chinca is unsure as to what happened to the original memorial stones.

Peter Asplin,73, and Nancy Hannan, 68, the great grandchildren of Sackfield Asplin took in some of the family history during a recent visit to the park.

Mr Asplin, 73, of Fulham, says he was not aware of the cemetery’s significance when he worked in the area in the 1950s for manufacturing firm Pope Limited.

“It didn’t really click with me then,” the former refrigeration mechanic says.

“I used to park the car in Howards Rd and didn’t really realise the history of the place. But it’s a good park donated to the community for the community.”