2025

The second ‘Stories in Stone’ cemetery heritage conference took place on Sunday 16 August in the heritage-listed Hamilton Town Hall in Brisbane.

It was organised by a small committee of Jenny Clark (Friends of Balmoral Cemetery) and Jess Parker (cemetery history researcher), and Chris Dawson (historian), who partnered with Brisbane Living Heritage. They brought together a fine range of passionate presenters including cemetery historians, authors, academic researchers, headstone cleaning volunteers, cemetery management professionals, musicians, and social media creators.

The programme and info on each presenter can be seen here.

There was a lot of variety in subject matter and presentation styles, and each person on the stage proved to be very knowledgeable and entertaining. Their expertise, presentation experience, and especially the variety of perspectives that really set the tone for the day. A lovely welcoming speech from Cllr Vicki Howard also lent the conference a crucial degree of authority. There were about 90 people in attendance for the event, and the feedback from the audience was hugely positive.

Stories in Stone conference, 2025. (C Dawson)

Hamilton Town Hall, Brisbane. (Wikimedia Commons)