Bob Buck's Grave.
Namatjira's Grave.
Just inside the main gate is a carved memorial stone in the shape of a prospector. Beneath it lie the remains of Harold Bell Lassetter, instigator of the elusive 'Lasseter's Reef', a famed reef of gold supposedly lying somewhere west of Alice Springs. The reef has been sought by several well-equipped expeditions since Lasseter first staggered into a surveyors camp, parched and exhausted, clutching a bag of gold nuggets, and claiming he had located a reef of gold in the early 1900's. The reef has been the subject of several books but as yet has foiled even the best organised attempts to find it. Lasseter perished in the desert on an attempt to re-locate the reef.
Against the southern fence of the cemetery is a large sandstone rock with a simple plaque remembering 'Bob Buck, Bushman'. Bob Buck was the bushman who eventually recovered Lasseter's body from its sandy grave, and was a well known character in Central Australia.
In the central southern section is the grave of Aranda tribesman Albert Namatjira, the first significant aboriginal artist of Central Australia. His landscapes of the area west of Alice Springs are keenly sought by collectors.
Also buried here are Olive Pink, (central north section), who in 1970 instigated the gazetting of a flora reserve just across the golf-course causeway, for the preservation and display of Central Australian plants. The reserve now bears her name. Olive Pink was a well- know Alice Springs identity.
To the southern side of the central section is the grave of Dick Gillen, aboriginal aid to the Rev. 'Skipper' Partridge, AIM patrol padre who covered vast areas of Central Australia in his work.
The cemetery is no longer used, although some plots remain reserved. A new cemetery on the Stuart Highway, south of town is currently in use.
Many of the names in the Memorial cemetery will be familiar, and Josie Petrick's excellent book -'The History of Alice Springs', available from newsagents, will provide information on many of them.
 Lasseters Grave. |
 See text above for detail. |
See also |