HISTORY IS ALIVE
& WELL at mornington cemetery
By Melissa Walsh Photos: Yanni
V
al Wilson is passionate about cemeteries and the perfect person to guide the annual Mornington Cemetery walk, taking visitors into another world, where each grave has its own story. “I’ve always been interested in cemeteries, and first started out working on the Greensborough cemetery years ago which is where a lot of my family are buried,” says Val, who, after doing biographies on some 300 buried there, was hooked. “I knew a lot of the names and it was very fulfilling, like a mark of respect to these people, discovering
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20 | PENINSULA
Winter 2015
stories that we could lose forever if somebody doesn’t investigate,” says Val. Now a Mornington resident, Val was already a member of the Mornington and District Historical Society, and got involved with the Mornington Cemetery walks in 2006. “We gather together at the cemetery gate around 1pm, where Diane White, the president of the historical society, and myself will give a brief introduction and background of the cemetery,” says Val. “I like to give people quirky bits of information about the people we have buried here.”