After an official survey in 1869 by John Charlton Thompson and James Ellwood and Alfred Dale Edwards, the town of Bundaberg was gazetted. The first land sale was held in Maryborough on 11 May 1870 and hotelier, John Foley, bought the original lots.

Bundaberg's first burying ground is mentioned in a 1923 newspaper as having accepted the first burials of a man named Gordon, and a Mrs Chapman in late May 1870.

Bundaberg's town centre began expanding more quickly than anyone thought it would.

From the newspapers in February 1873 "The urgent need of a reserve for a cemetery has again been brought forcibly before us by the burial, almost in the middle of town, of an old man who died here last week."

Later in 1873 the new Bundaberg General Cemetery in Takalvan Street opened.

Alderman Adams, at a meeting on 30 November 1881, said "it was not creditable to have these ten or twelve graves in the centre of town".

On 5th January 1882 the bodies from this now defunct cemetery were reinterred at the new cemetery.

Unfortunately, as the burial records have been lost it is not known how many or who were buried at this, now defunct, "Old Burying Ground". It is also possible that not all were found for removal.

If you would like to list a memorial - please do so over at the Bundaberg General Cemetery ID No. 2355742 - so that virtual flowers may be laid for those who have been reinterred without mark or those whose last resting place cannot be determined.