Historic Redland Bay gravesites under threat from excavators

The serenity of a heritage-listed cemetery, the final resting place for some of the state’s first European pioneers, is under threat from a housing and road widening project. WATCH THE VIDEO

The serenity of a heritage-listed cemetery is under threat from a housing development and a busy road which is notorious as a deathtrap.

Excavators started digging up road reserve, metres from graves at the Serpentine Creek Cemetery, on Monday.

The historic site, shaded by gum trees, is the burial place for 24 of the first Europeans to settle in the area.

It was put on the Queensland State Heritage Register as a protected asset in 1999.

Road works near the cemetery on Beenleigh-Redland Bay Rd. Picture: Judith Kerr

Surveying conducted at the site, on busy Beenleigh-Redland Bay Rd, which is also known as Serpentine Creek Rd, showed burial plots marked on a large plaque inside the cemetery.

Redland Bay resident Jorma Ahokas complained to Redland City Council and the local museum when he saw developers marking out excavation sites on the boundary last week.

“This cemetery was brought to the notice of Redland Shire by my father 50 years ago and it has since been historically listed,” Mr Ahokas said.

“It is precariously close to the Shoreline Development and we fear our history will be lost and that of other families from the area as there are some unmarked graves.

“We have no knowledge of how many unmarked graves there are and how far they extend towards the existing road.

“It is of great concern that road excavation may extend towards the cemetery, which would be detrimental even though there is plenty of room on the other side of Beenleigh-Redland Bay Rd.”

An excavator digs a trench on the fence line of the cemetery.

Excavators rolled past the front fence on the cemetery’s western and northern boundaries, digging a deep trench less than 2m from the grave of Edward Heinemann.

Mr Heinemann, along with James Collins and Fredrick Muller, were all from pioneering farming families.

All have roads in the area named after them and all are buried in plots on the site.

Mr Collins and Mr Muller were members of the Tingalpa Divisional Board, and Mr Heinemann was the brother of the chair, Hans Heindrich Heinemann of Mount Cotton.

Descendants of the men and their family have maintained the graves since the cemetery was opened in 1890.

Redland City Council has also taken on some maintenance duties.

Developer Lendlease, Redland City Council and the State Government all said they would not touch the cemetery.

But none said they would protect its immediate surroundings including the road reserve, where excavation works were under way.

Graves at the historic cemetery are less than 2m from the excavation works and the busy Beenleigh-Redland Bay Rd.

Redland City Council said no roads were currently proposed or approved next to the cemetery land, but did not comment on the current works.

The council said it was only the trustee of the site and the State Government was the authority in charge of the main road.

It said it had not approved any development on cemetery land.

Lendlease said the cemetery land was not part of its 3500-lot Shoreline housing estate.

However, it said it would upgrade the main Beenleigh-Redland Bay Rd when it had built 2500 houses, in accordance with its State Government approval.

The developer has also guaranteed it would sewer its housing estate by building a sewerage treatment plant less than 3km from the cemetery.

That would happen only after the first 200 houses were built.

Construction tape (top right of picture) near graves at the historic Redland Bay site.

“The majority of the boundary to the north of the cemetery is currently owned by Energex and not part of the Lendlease development,” Lendlease said.

“The boundary to the east of the cemetery is a 100m-wide environmental corridor that traverses the Shoreline development to Orchard Rd.

“Any future development adjacent to the cemetery to the south will be referred to the State Government as the heritage body for approvals.”