Lightning Ridge Cemetery

Lightning Ridge Cemetery is located on Woolooroo Road, to the north of Lightning Ridge.

The cemetery was surveyed along with the current town layout in 1907, however the earliest graves on the site date back to 1905.

The Roman Catholic section of the cemetery was consecrated in 1908.

Many graves within the cemetery are unknown due to poor record keeping during the mid-twentieth century. A community funded project has been undertaken to identify as many graves as possible and mark all occupied grave sites, even if the identity of the interred is not known. As a result, there are a number of white crosses marked simply as “Unknown”. Many of these graves are the graves of miners and their families between 1905 and 1970. With ongoing research we are hopeful that many more graves can be marked in the future.

Burial records have been meticulously kept since 1970, so more modern graves are marked with accuracy. 

The road to the cemetery was sealed in 1993. 

Lightning Ridge Cemetery at Find a Grave.

Notable burials:

• Mick Bauer

• Bob Bishop

• Fred Bodel

• George Boules

• Jack Boules

• Bertie Brown

• Nellie Brown

• Jennings, Edith, Artie, Pearl and Bob Bruce

• Eric Catterall

• Bert Cooper (ashes)

• George Cowan

• Charlie Dunstan

• A.B.J. “Pappa” Francis

• Jack “The Hornet” Franklin

• Dolly Frazer

• Harold Frazer (ashes)

• “Old Black Joe” Gibbons

• Walter “Watty” Heness

• Harold Hodges

• Sid and George Graham

• Smiler Lawler

• Dave Martin

• John Molyneux

• Tom Urwin

• The Wolstenholme Brothers

Article: Research by Russell Gawthorpe and Leisa Carney, edited by Russell Gawthorpe. LRHS research compiled by Len Cram and Barbara Moritz. Sources: Lightning Flash Newspaper, 20 May 1993; Walgett Spectator, 12 September 1918.