Thanks for all the advice. Below is a mash of the information from Ipswich Council and a note from the Ipswich family history group. They advise that records do not exist for Ipswich Cemetery prior to 1868. The reason for this is there was a flood in Ipswich in 1868 and all the previous records were lost. However Sarah (Sally) Owens/Stubbs was buried in the pioneer section of the Ipswich General Cemetery. There is a book "Gone, But Not Forgotten: Ipswich Cemetery 1842 - 1868" by Leisha Muir which states that Sarah Stubbs died 4 September 1861 and was buried in the Ipswich Cemetery. When the cemetery was under the control of someone other than the Ipswich City Council, this section of the cemetery was cleared, Sarah's headstone (If she had one) would now be relocated to one side of the cemetery along with a number of other headstones. This last point makes me think there might be a headstone. How else would Leisha Muir know the grave existed if the records were lost in a flood? I Have located the site of the pioneer headstones on the corner of Briggs Road and Cemetery Road. But I'm struggling to find a list of pioneers names for those headstones. Cheers Greg

This last point makes me think there might be a headstone. How else would Leisha Muir know the grave existed if the records were lost in a flood? I Have located the site of the pioneer headstones on the corner of Briggs Road and Cemetery Road. But I'm struggling to find a list of pioneers names for those headstones. See Kerry Hall's transcriptions http://www.australiancemeteries.com/qld/ipswich/ipswich.htm but Sarah doesn't appear to be listed in the Pioneer section. David

Hi Greg, Information on an individual's place of burial can come from undertakers' records, death certificates, etc., but the actual burial site would likely only come from the cemetery records. In the case of Geelong Cemetery, for example, where a bushfire was responsible for completely wiping out all cemetery records, the names of those buried in the cemetery were pieced together from 'outside' records, but the grave sites remain unknown. One must be content with only knowing which religious section the deceased was interred in. I think it would be a mistake to think that all headstones would have been relocated in any cemetery renewal. I know of a couple of cemeteries where only the headstones of "well-known" identities were preserved - the rest were stacked in heaps and covered with soil, or buried. Broken headstones and those which are difficult to read are likely to be discarded in all renewals. Most old cemeteries contain graves which have ornate metal fencing, etc., but if the stone was placed in a horizontal position, weathering has totally obliterated the names of those buried there. Another possibility you might consider is that Sarah had a wooden cross/grave marker, rather than a stone, so perhaps there was nothing left to relocate anyway. My suggestion would be to contact Leisha Muir, if you have not already done so, and ask from where she obtained the information on Sarah Stubbs burial. Regards Barbara