Site 10: Sevenhill Cemetery

The Sevenhill Cemetery is the final resting place of some local pioneers, parishioners, and First Nations people, with the earliest graves dating back to 1872. Prior to this the only nearby Catholic Cemetery was in front of St Michael’s Church Clare [founded 183] and closed in the early 1900s. The Sevenhill Jesuit Community, who opened their cemetery on their land at Sevenhill in 1872, kindly offered those parishioners, unable to secure a separate Catholic section in the Clare General Cemetery, burial at Sevenhill.  The cemetery, now at capacity, is currently under review along with all the Jesuit-owned assets and holdings at Sevenhill as to what might pertain in the future.

Over some cemeteries there is the inscription “Lanua Vitae”, which means the Gate of Life, reflecting the Christian belief that our death is the beginning of the new life heralded in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ at Easter. The arched steel entrance gateway, bearing the Society of Jesus’ insignia ‘IHS’, the abbreviation for the name of Jesus that St Ignatius Loyola, primary founder of the Jesuit Order adopted for his own devotion, and which has become the common monogram for the works of the Society of Jesus, was constructed and installed by Br John May SJ in 1968. Br John, in addition to managing the winery, was also the curator of the cemetery, the shrines, the stations of the cross, the church and the crypt, all sited on the Sevenhill property.

In the Register Book of St Aloysius’ Cemetery, Sevenhill, three burials are recorded for the first year,1872. Daniel Magner of Skilly was buried in January – so, he was possibly the first burial.  A son of John Curtis from Stanley Flat was buried sometime in 1872, and the third person recorded is Frances Fels, of Sevenhill, who died on 11 October,1872, aged 80.

Since the first person was laid to rest in 1862, Sevenhill business managers have maintained full records of all burials in the Sevenhill Cemetery.  All records are still entered by hand, with no digital copy.

Many of the regions pioneering families – Fels, Modystack, Pawelski, Sobczak, Kauffman, Kirchner, Bother, Wyman, Baetelsmeier, Vogt, Walsh, Hickey, Mahon, O’Meara, Nobel, etc. – have been laid to rest here.

Some Cemetery Features:

Some notable features of the Cemetery –

• On the southern boundary of the cemetery is Br Franz Waldmann’s beautiful stone-carved cross, built in 1875, in tribute to the Fathers and Brothers of the Society of Jesus. Its present placement occurred after the Jesuit Provincial requested that it be moved from its original position in the centre of the graveyard at the head of the row of cypress trees. Apparently, in its original position, exposure to the weather over a long period of time had caused significant deterioration. Steel dowels used in the monument’s construction were badly affected by rust, resulting in the cracking, and crumbling of stone. The monument was moved to its present site in 2001, with bronze rods replacing the steel material and extra stone extracted from the Sevenhill quarry to refurbish the monument. 

• The burial plot of Franz and Fransiska Weikert [and members of their family], who led a group of 146 fellow Silesians to South Australia in 1848, is in the north-western corner of the cemetery. The Weikert vision was to establish a Catholic community in the Clare district, where they could enjoy religious and political freedom. Their chaplains were two Austrian Jesuit priests – Fr Aloysius Kranewitter and Fr Maximilian Klinkowstroem. Fr Kranewitter accompanied the Weikerts to the Clare district in December 1848, and they established a farm approximately 4 kilometres south-west of Clare Village nearby Neagle’s Rock. Fr Kranewitter lived with the Weikert family. Five months later, he was joined by two Jesuit brothers, Br Joannes Schreiner, who would become the first winemaker at Sevenhill, and Br Georg Sadler was the first Jesuit to be buried in the crypt under the church at Sevenhill.  When Franz and Fransiska Weikert were no longer able to manage their farm, the Jesuits brought them to Sevenhill, where they resided on the property in what is now known as Weikert Cottage. Franz Weikert died in1875. Br Waldmann’s carving on the headstone reads: “Here awaiteth the Resurrection, Francis Weikert, a native of Silesia who led the First fathers of the Society of Jesus to Australia in 1848. He fell asleep in the Lord at Sevenhill, October 3.75. Aged 83. RIP.” Fransiska Weikert died in March 1888, aged 78 years.

• Anton Kranewitter, the brother of the first Jesuit at Clare, Fr Aloysius Kranewitter was buried in the cemetery in 1882. Anton built the Black Eagle [now Sevenhill] Hotel in the Seven hill township in 1863 and ran the establishment from 16 July 1863 until 4 April 1866, when it was thought he left the area to travel to the north of Australia. According to the record of licensees on display in the hotel, Anton returned to run the establishment from June 1870 until the end of 1872. He died in 1874, aged 54, and his “remains from the north” were reinterred at Sevenhill in 1882. A sturdy wooden cross marks the spot.

• There are graves of notable politicians and local identities in the cemetery. For example, one of Clare’s prominent residents of the late 1800s, Peter Paul Gillen, is buried in the cemetery following his sudden death in September 1898, aged 38. A resident of Clare for 35 years, he represented the area in three South Australian parliamentary terms, during which he served in cabinet. He was also Commissioner of Crown Lands of the province for four years.

• The graves of Josephites sisters, Sr M Andrea and Sr M Calasanctius, daughters of a local family who were among the first intakes of novices trained by Saint Mary of the Cross MacKillop. Sr Andrea died on 22 June 1932 and Sr Calasanctius died on 13 December 1933. Sr Calasanctius was prominent in holding her Josephite sisters together during Mary’s excommunication. The Josephites honoured the condition of their father that his daughters could join the congregation on the understanding that when they died, they would be buried at Sevenhill Cemetery.

• Ernst Nobel, worked for the Jesuits, managing the dairy herd and dairy until his death in 1943, aged 85.  His wife, Anna Elizabeth died some years prior on 29November 1938, aged 85 years. Their three daughters, Rose Mary [d. Nov 1991, aged 95 years], Martha Ignatious [d. 4 August 1991, aged 87 years] and Elizabeth [‘Lizzie’ d. 11 September 1980, aged 82 years], generously left a bequest to the church for the construction of the southern transcept at St Aloysius’ Church. they were dedicated volunteers in the parish and close to the Jesuit Community. Lizzie worked as a dairy maid with her father at Sevenhill, Rose attended to the church’s altar linen, in need of weekly washing and ironing, while Martha played the organ at Mass. The Nobels’ bequest and support from other generous donors, including Mary Vogt and Bernard and Kathleen Marsson, enabled the construction of the southern transcept to be completed in 1997.

• A plaque erected by the by the Polish Pioneer Descendants Group lists the names of the children of the pioneer settlers who died as infants and were buried in the cemetery.

Our records for 2016 show 1,437 people have been buried in the Sevenhill Cemetery.