Families a place to play

A CONFEDERATE soldier, a Eureka Stockade miner and Queensland’s longest- living convict are among hundreds of interesting historical figures buried in Townsville.

More than 8000 people have been laid to rest in the West End Cemetery and historian Bob Bakkers knows many of their stories.

He operates several history walking tours around Townsville, including a weekly event around the sprawling cemetery every Sunday.

“We started doing the tours full time this year and since April I haven’t had a weekend off,” he said.

Mr Bakkers said his tours focused on interesting stories about people who lived in Townsville between the 1860s and 1920s.

“In addition to the cemetery tour I do a history walk in the city and a ‘ Blood and Tears’ night walk,” he said.

Mr Bakkers said he got a lot of interest from school groups, cruise ship visitors and curious locals.

The West End Cemetery has undergone a dramatic transformation in the past decade after a small team of volunteers started repairing and identifying the graves in the park.

Local man John Weir started the project with his friend John Weis and they continue to work at the cemetery every Tuesday and Thursday.

“There was metre- high grass and huge trees everywhere,” Mr Weir said. “Years ago the plans of the cemetery were lost.

“The gravediggers’ records show who is here, but unless there’s a headstone or peg marker we don’t know where they are.”

Mr Bakkers said they had identified decorated military personnel, former mayors, railway workers and people connected to the gold rush.