A team of volunteers are finding, cataloguing and restoring isolated burial places in Queensland’s Channel Country.
Story Kirsty McKenzie Photos Ken Brass
A couple of rotting fence posts and a star picket with a metal police tag were all that marked the life of 4-year-old Arthur Gentry, who died in the summer of 1896. It would be easy to miss the lonely grave sheltered by a gidgee grove on the stock route beside the Kyabra road, just north of Eromanga in south-western Queensland. But thanks to the dedication of retired environmental scientist and consultant Rob Savory and his band of stalwart supporters, little Arthur’s final resting place has been restored with a rock border and name plaque.
Rob is the head wrangler of a group of volunteers who call themselves the ‘keepers of the bush graves’. Their task is to search out, restore as much as practicable and create a permanent record of the countless graves dotted across the vast expanses of the Channel Country.
This story excerpt is from Issue #158
Outback Magazine: December/January 2025
