The Athelstone Independent Cemetery is located at 3 Schulze Court, Athelstone SA 5076.

Athelstone Independent Cemetery Map

Athelstone Independent Cemetery Interment Register

New Burials & Ashes Memorials

At this time there are no available burial sites available for purchase at Athelstone Independent Cemetery. However, there are ashes memorial positions available on the Columbarium Wall.

The term of interment rights for both burials and positions on the Columbarium Walls is forty years.

For all advice on burials and ashes memorials you can contact the Council by:

• Completing the Council’s General Contact Form, including as much information as possible.
• Emailing the Council at mail@campbelltown.sa.gov.au.
• Calling the Council on 8366 9222 between 8.45am and 5.00pm Monday to Friday.
• Writing to the Council at 'PO Box 1, Campbelltown SA 5074'.

History

The Village of Shipley was established in the 1850s to house and feed the workforce building the nearby Thorndon Park Reservoir, which was South Australia’s first reservoir and the largest infrastructure project of its day. The Shipley Congregational (later Independent) Chapel was built in 1853 and was opened for worship on 18 June 1854.

However, once the Thorndon Park Reservoir was completed in 1860, the distance from town and the small population proved to be insurmountable obstacles. By 1913 the Chapel was deserted, described as a "nesting place for birds" in one contemporary newspaper account. The final service was held in 1926, and the abandoned Chapel was demolished, but the cemetery remains in use as a burial place for people of all denominations.

Campbelltown City Council took over management of the cemetery in June 1966.

Some of those buried there include:

• Giovanni ‘John’ AMADIO (d. 1983) born in Castignano, Italy, market gardener in ‘East Marden’, Campbelltown, and founder of Amadio Wines.

• Henry and Annie HERSEY (d. 1893 & 1906) market gardeners, sauce-maker, carpenter, and noted diarist of early Athelstone.

• Géza LAKATOS (d. 1967) the last constitutional Prime Minister of the Royal Kingdom of Hungary, having briefly overthrown Nazi occupation in 1944.

• James MARCHANT (d. 1868) established a Bakehouse in 1854 on the corner of Russell and Gorge roads, later the Marchant General Store, which operated as a family owned business for 102 years.

• Annie OLDLAND (d. 1932), Emily STARR (d. 1898), and Elsie KERNEY (d. 1901) wife and daughters of John Kerney (d. 1892), infamous as South Australia’s Captain Thunderbolt.