FAMILIES & FRIENDS OF WAANYARRA HOME PAGE

The Families and Friends of Waanyarra is a group of people dedicated to the preservation of the historic significance of this once rich gold mining area.
The group had it's beginnings in 1988 when a highly successful "Back to" was held in March of that year.
Descendants of the pioneer families of the district and virtually anyone with any connection to the place gathered together for the first time since the early sixties.
In the intervening years these reunions have been held biannually with all proceeds being used to carry out various projects. Recently the group has received grant funds from

• the Loddon Shire for the restoration of the post and rail front fence of the Historic cemetery,
• Parks Victoria for the production and installation of gravemarkers to each of the unmarked graves therein, and
• the Human Services department for the design, manufacture and placement of a new naming sign for the cemetery.

Other projects completed and funded by the group include

• the complete restoration of the cemetery entrance, replicating as far as possible the original decorative gate posts, wrought iron main gate, picket side fencing and pedestrian gate.
• the installation of an information sign, etched on stainless steel, giving some of the history of the cemetery.
• the installation of three bronze plaques on large local rocks carrying the names of one hundred and twenty nine people buried in the Historic cemetery with no gravemarker.

Extensive research by FAFOW members and other volunteers over many years has lead to the reconstruction of the burial records for the cemetery, the original having been destroyed in a house fire in the early forties we believe.
Copies of these records have been placed with most genealogical societies in Victoria, and are now shown on this site.
Links to other pages showing some of the project work done by FAFOW over the years are on the "CEMETERY" page.