Cairns Club Maintains Historic Cemetery

The Cairns Four Wheel Drive Club has been maintaining a historic cemetery at Mount Mulligan for over 40 years.

Before and after the maintenance of the Mount Mulligan Cemetery

Mount Mulligan and district is part of the Hodgkinson Goldfields discovered in 1876 by Irish explorer James Venture Mulligan but the town itself is a renowned Coal Mining area.

Mount Mulligan was mined 1914-1958 but it is best known as the site of the Mount Mulligan mine disaster on 19th September 1921.

The mine exploded at about 9:25am and was heard some 60km away in Mount Molloy killing every man employed, 75 husbands, fathers, and sons in total. 74 bodies were finally retrieved, the last on 8 February 1922. The entire population of the town at this time was 300.

The town did not have a cemetery, but the land was consecrated, and a cemetery was established to bury 69 of the victims.

A memorial was erected by the Mining and Energy Union at the old mine site on the 75th anniversary of the tragedy that lists all those who were killed. Mount Mulligan is yet another cemetery that has been maintained for many years on an annual basis by the Cairns Four Wheel Drive Club.

Before and after the maintenance of the Mount Mulligan Cemetery

The club has “adopted” the graveyard to respect those that went before.

They travel the 155km (2 hours 30 mins) to the graveyard once a year to clean, mow, trim, rake and generally maintain it.

Well done to them.