Mine team unearths gold rush cemetery

HUMAN remains have been unearthed in an unmarked and abandoned 19th century graveyard in the gold mining town of Ravenswood, 130km southwest of Townsville.

The remains were found in 16 unmarked graves behind the Ravenswood State School sports oval.

The graves are thought to contain the remains of people who died in the old gold mining town in the late 1860s and early 1870s. Ravenswood became a bustling mining centre after gold was discovered there in 1868.

The graves are in what is believed to have been the town’s first cemetery. They were discovered by specialist contractors using ground penetrating radar while working on Carpentaria Gold’s Ravenswood Expansion Project.

Carpentaria Gold spokeswoman Rebecca McLellan said archaeologists had examined the graves and determined that the remains were those of nine adults and seven children. She said this would be confirmed by a forensic archaeologist scheduled to visit the site later this month.

“The forensic archaeologist will attempt to obtain DNA from the remains and then determine the sex and age of those who were buried there. The bones have been there for 150 years, but there is every confidence that age and sex will be determined,” she said.

Ms McLellan said authorities were contacted as soon as workers on the mine project found the graves in August.

“There was nothing to suggest there was a cemetery there. No fences, no headstones, nothing. They were picked up by ground penetrating radar. There were two hits on the radar. One was nothing and the other one revealed human remains at 1.3m. After that the other graves were located,” she said.

Ms McLellan said human bones, including a humerus and femur, were exposed in the first grave located by the radar. She said work ceased immediately and the Charters Towers Regional Council, Department of Environment and Heritage Protection, the state coroner and local CIB detectives were contacted.

“The bones were confirmed by Queensland Police as most likely European and to have been buried for an extended period of time in an unmarked cemetery that was never gazetted,” she said.

A Department of Environ- ment and Heritage Protection spokesman said Carpentaria Gold’s processes including its “archaeological excavation methodology” were approved by the Government before work started.

The spokesman confirmed an archaeological field team was on site from August 28 until September 19, and that 16 graves containing remains were located and excavated.

Ms McLellan said after the final identification work was completed the remains would be reinterred in the town’s “new” cemetery, established between 1872 and 1874.

“While records show 19 people died in Ravenswood between 1870 and 1872, only one death certificate states that the person was buried in Ravenswood,” she said.

Ms McLellan said a team of seven archaeologists exhumed what was originally thought to be 21 grave sites.

She said in some cases what were thought to be graves turned out to be animal burial and rubbish pits.

In one case what was thought to be a grave was an old outhouse toilet.

“The exhumed remains were in various conditions with several full skeletons discovered and many partial remains,” she said.

Ms McLellan said the remains were being held in a secure climate- controlled area.