Waterfall General (Garrawarra) Cemetery
Consultation has concluded
Update August 2015: Council has prepared a draft Planning Proposal for this site, which will be on exhibition for public comment from 24 August to 11 September 2015. To read more and make a submission, visit the exhibition page during that period.
Waterfall General Cemetery – also known as Garrawarra Cemetery – is located north west of Helensburgh, in the northern-most part of the Wollongong local government area.
This cemetery was used from 1909 to 1949 as a burial site for over 2000 tuberculosis patients from the nearby Waterfall Sanatorium, which operates today as the Garrawarra Centre for Aged Care.
Care of the abandoned, and already overgrown, Cemetery was handed to Wollongong City Council in 1967, along with four other cemeteries that were in use at the time. Today, the site has almost completely returned to bushland, and there is currently no public access.
Since 2012, Council has been conducting research into the cemetery with the help of consultants and local historians. A draft Conservation Management Plan has been prepared by consultants BIOSIS, and we invited the community to give us feedback on the various options for the future management of the site from 20 September to 15 November 2013.
A short film "Not Forgotten: The Story of Waterfall General Cemetery" has also been produced to provide members of the public with a better understanding of the current condition of the cemetery, and its history.
We would like to thank everyone who contributed to this process by sharing their stories and opinions. We're in the process of compiling your feedback, which will be presented to Council in early 2014 with recommendations on a preferred approach for the future management of the cemetery. We'll provide updates here as decisions are made.
In the meantime, we welcome anyone with connections to this site to get in touch with us. Feel free to share your story below, email us at council@wollongong.nsw.gov.au or call us on (02) 4227 7111.
Tell your story
We're interested in collecting images and stories about the history of the site. Do you have any photos of the site or your relatives who spent time at the Waterfall Sanitorium? Please share your stories and photos here to help us paint a picture.