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At the request of the Carnamah Progress Association the Carnamah District Road Board began looking for a suitable cemetery site in 1925. It was intended to create a cemetery a short distance from the Carnamah townsite, however upon investigation it was revealed that all land nearby had been taken up by settlers. To the Board's misfortune those who owned suitable sites raised objections.
On the advice of Road Board member W. Henry Watson, the secretary of the Road Board wrote to the Midland Railway Company inquiring about a possible site east of the Winchester Railway Siding. The Midland Railway Company responded offering to sell the proposed site to the Road Board for £1. Members of the Road Board accepted the Midland Railway Company's generous offer at their monthly meeting on 20 October 1925.
On 1 March 1926 the Carnamah District Road Board paid the Midland Railway Company £1 cash for the five acre site which had been surveyed by the company as Lot M1611 of Victoria Location 2023.
The following year, in 1927, the Winchester Cemetery was established to provide the residents of the Carnamah Road Board district with a local cemetery. The cemetery was cleared and fenced by contractor W. E. Fould and the first grave was dug on 20 June 1927 by Edward Hellewell. Mrs Rachel Alston Lawson of Winchester was the first to be buried in the cemetery.
The Winchester Cemetery is situated on the Winchester East Road (which intersects with the Midlands Road) in the Shire of Carnamah, Western Australia. The centre of the cemetery is at latitude -29.767692 and longitude 115.968718.
The Cemetery is split into 24 rows, each of which are marked by a letter of the alphabet between A and X. Rows start with plot one at their northerly end and finish with either 15 or 20 at their southerly end. The front of the Cemetery faces north. All graves and monuments face east, except for the plaques on the back of the front wall which face south.
The Winchester Cemetery is the only cemetery for the Shires of Carnamah and Coorow. Most interments have been residents of Carnamah, Winchester, Coorow and Waddy Forest however others include people from Perenjori, Three Springs, Marchagee and Gunyidi.
By mid 2003 over 185 plots had been used however more then 30 were not marked by a headstone or monument. The exact number of interments cannot be accurately established due to unregistered interments of ashes, however exceeds 240.
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