Gatton is a small nice little town in the Lockyer Valley about an hour from Brisbane and 30 minutes from Toowoomba. It is a farming community and, I suspect, it has always been a close knit place. We know this because of a tragedy that happened in the 1890's.
Sometime between 10 PM on December 26 and 4 AM on the 27th in 1898, three Murphy siblings were killed coming home from a dance. Michael Murphy aged 29 and his younger sisters Norah (Honora) 27 and Theresa 'Ellen' 18 were killed by an unknown assailant. You can read all about it on Wikipedia. The murders were never solved.
The Gatton cemetery is a smallish place with a collection of tombs of modest interest as cemetery art.
It is in the expected state of disuse and disrepair and was fun to wander. But the real attraction is the marker for the Murphy siblings.
The inscription is hard to read in the image above, so here is an enlargement to help you.
Even in a small farming community, horrible things can happen. In addition to this mystery, there were several graves of young men who were "accidentally killed." Certainly farm work was and is dangerous. Lots of pain found in this graveyard.
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