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Cemetery Significance Statement (Part 5)

SMITHFIELD CEMETERY RESERVE (CEM.90 / R.76 / Por.46)
Stewarts Road, Barron, Queensland 4878.

Statement of Cultural Heritage Significance
© 2021 Phoenix

This statement of cultural significance was prepared by Dr Dave Phoenix in November 2020 in accordance with the ICOMOS Burra Charter (1999) and the Queensland Department of Environment and Heritage Protection’s guidelines for assessing cultural heritage significance

Part 5: Governance.

Governance:

There is no evidence to suggest that anyone was named as trustee of the Smithfield Cemetery Reserve, unlike the heritage-listed McLeod Street Pioneer Cemetery in Cairns, which had eight prominent Cairns and Smithfield businessmen named as trustees when it was gazetted in 1877.

Cemetery Trustees could be appointed by the Governor-in-Council under the terms of The Cemetery Act (QLD, 1865). After Federation, The Local Authorities Act (QLD 1902) gave the Governor-in-Council the power to proclaim the local authority as Cemetery Trustee.

The Smithfield Cemetery Reserve was under the governance of: 

  • Cairns Road Board (1876-10 November 1879)
  • Cairns Divisional Board - Division 2 (11 November 1879-19 December 1890) the Board was formed under Divisional Boards Act 1879.
  • Barron Divisional Board (20 December 1890-30 March 1903)
  • Barron Shire Council (31 March 1903-19 December 1919) formed under Local Authorities Act 1902.
  • Cairns Shire Council (20 December 1919-1940) after the Barron Shire was abolished.
  • Mulgrave Shire Council (1940-21 March 1995) after Cairns Shire was renamed Mulgrave Shire.
  • Cairns City Council (22 March 1995-2008) after Mulgrave Shire was abolished and absorbed into the City of Cairns under Local Government (Cairns, Douglas, Mareeba and Mulgrave) Regulation 1994).
  • Cairns Regional Council - Division 8 (2008- )

However, it was not until 11 June 1987 that Mulgrave Shire Council were formally appointed trustees. Mulgrave Shire became Cairns City Council after amalgamation in 1995, and Cairns Regional Council in 2008. Cairns Regional Council are the current trustees and hold the freehold title to the reserve.

Planning schemes and previous cultural heritage assessments:

The first Mulgrave Shire planning scheme was adopted in 1975 for urban areas and 1978 for rural areas. This was superseded after amalgamation with Cairns City Council in 1995 by the Planning Scheme for the Balance of the City of Cairns (29 November 1996), The Cairns Plan 2005 (27 January 2005, amended 24 November 2005), The Cairns Plan 2009 (March 2009), The Cairns Plan 2016 (v.1.0, 1 March 2016), The Cairns Plan 2016 (v.1.1, 28 June 2018) and currently The Cairns Plan 2016 (v.1.2, 11 December 2017).

The first heritage assessment in the Cairns area was carried out by the National Trust of Queensland in 1977. This study identified 54 places of cultural significance, mainly in the CBD. Smithfield Cemetery was not one of the sites that was considered.

In 1992, Mulgrave Shire Council carried out a study of cultural heritage places which identified the nearby Douglas Track as a significant place but did not mention Smithfield Cemetery. Later that year, the Queensland Department of Environment and Heritage recognised the need for local area heritage studies and identified Cairns as an area of priority. Both Cairns City Council and Mulgrave Shire Council commissioned heritage studies.

In 1995 Cairns City Council and Mulgrave Shire Council were amalgamated to become Cairns City Council. The Mulgrave Shire Heritage Study, which was published in 1996 after amalgamation, recommended that Cairns City Council establish a heritage register of significant places, and identified Smithfield Cemetery as one of 101 places in the old Mulgrave Shire area that were “places of potential historical cultural significance”.

Cairns City Council drafted a heritage strategy, which was published their Planning Scheme for the Balance of the City of Cairns in 1996.

  • 6.9.1. Heritage Objective 1.
    To identify places of cultural and natural heritage significance in the Plan Area.
  • 6.9.2. Heritage Objective 2.
    To provide the opportunity for heritage values to be taken into account when assessing proposals for development.

In 1997 Cairns Regional Council produced a Council Heritage Register of cultural heritage resources by combining the Cairns City Heritage Study and Mulgrave Shire Heritage Study. This was updated by Anne Meiklejohn in 1998.

In 1999 Cairns Regional Council drafted a cultural heritage strategy. In the first draft of The Cairns Plan (2005) the Council recognised Smithfield Cemetery and the nearby ‘Old Smithfield Townsite’ as significant places of Non-Indigenous Cultural Heritage.

  • 3.7.3. Schedule of Heritage Sites
  • Current Name: Smithfield Cemetery
  • Address: Stewarts Road, Barron, QLD 4878
  • History: Smithfield Cemetery was gazetted on 21 December 1878. On 20 March 1943 the Smithfield Cemetery was reduced in area to that which is now Lot 46.
  • Physical Description: The Smithfield Cemetery has only one grave that is marked by a monument. The gravesite is surrounded by a low picket fence. Three separate iron artefacts on the grave, two of which appear to be fixed in place and one is loose.
  • Physical Integrity: The fence appears still in its original position, however it is severely deformed
    and sections are missing.
  • Statement of Significance: The cemetery provides physical evidence of the original Smithfield township.

In 2007, the Queensland Government amended the Queensland Heritage Act (1992) requiring local governments to establish a register of significant local cultural heritage places. Cairns Regional Council partnered with the Cultural Heritage Branch of the Queensland Environmental Protection Agency, and in 2008, they commissioned Environmental Resources Management Pty. Ltd. to undertake a comprehensive study of the region.

In 2011 the Council commissioned a thematic history, which proposed 240 places which could be considered for entry on the Local Heritage Register. Place 179 was the Old Smithfield Cemetery which was placed on the list without automatically as a Council controlled asset.

Smithfield Cemetery is now listed as Non-Indigenous Cultural Heritage on The Cairns Plan 2016 v.1.2.

Go to Cemetery Significance Statement ⇒ Part 6: Burials.