Upper Regions

Out in the country looking for school sites, I came across the 'Upper Regions Cemetery'.

The Cemetery Reserve site was gazetted in November 1877.
It's first Trustees were appointed in August 1881, and you can see the German Lutheran heritage of the area reflected in the names - Peter Koop, August  Petschel, John Menzel, Gustav Stephen and August Janetski.

 They obviously had grand plans for a huge population boost back then, which wasn't realised, as the plots are concentrated in a back corner.

Despite its overgrown state, you can make out the grand central corridor of pines dividing the site into the northern half which houses the occupied graves, and the southern half bordering Petschels Road.

The cemetery's Rules and Regulations of 1882 includes some gems -

Cemetery fees in 1882

• A drawing of every stone, tomb, pedestal, and a plan of every monument or tablet proposed to be erected, and a copy of every epitaph or inscription to be submitted to the trustees for approval, who may withhold permission and prevent the erection of any monument which shall appear to them inappropriate or unbecoming, and shall determine and fix the position of any monument which may be preferred  to be erected according to the description, size, and character thereof, having reference to the general plan for ornamenting the said cemetery in an appropriate manner. 
• No grave to be of less depth than 6 feet, except in the case of still-born children 3 feet. 
• Family vaults to be limited to 10 feet frontage by a depth of 8 or 16 feet.

Time stands still

In March 1845 William Patterson took up the license for the Upper Regions station by the right bank of the Wimmera River, adjoining Dimboola. The name referred to its location in the up-country district, part of Dimboola developed on the station site. The station was subdivided in December 1856 into Upper Regions and Lochiel, Upper regions was further subdivided in April 1858 into Upper regions and Bonegar. The Upper Regions license was cancelled in November 1884, and Lochiel cancelled in September 1881.