Sue Speed (FOBC) Jenny Coppens & John McLean at Coburg Cemetery 5 March 2022
UPDATE March 2022
A large shield shaped plaque inscribed “In Loving Memory of Ebeneza and George Shade” was found on the perimeter road at Balmoral Cemetery, Brisbane in 2016 by a BCC worker.
This worker took the plaque back to his base at Hemmant Cemetery, Brisbane thinking it would just be a matter of looking up the grave number and then returning it to its original location.
ALAS there is no record of anyone named Shade buried in the cemetery.
The plaque was then handed to FOBC by BCC last May 2021 in the hope that we might be able to find more information.
FOBC have carefully searched the graves around where the plaque was found but again could not connect the Shades to any of these graves.
FOBC also carried out broader research and discovered the brothers George and Ebeneza (Ebenezer) were buried at Coburg Cemetery in Victoria. Contact was made with Ebenezer and George’s grand-niece Jenny Coppens (her grandfather, William Shade, is their brother) through John McLean, the Shade family researcher. (John and FoBC connected via a post on the Ancestry.com site)
Whilst Jenny knew about Ebenezer and George she did not realise that they were buried at Coburg Cemetery. Not to far from where she grew up. Both Ebenezer and George are buried in the same plot and both passed away in 1907, June and November respectfully. (only 5 months apart).
Restored by Friends of Balmoral Cemetery Friends of Coburg Cemetery supplied photos of their grave as did the Coburg Cemetery Trust. The grave had no headstone but did have a place where such a plaque may once have been.
SUCCESS. Friends Of Balmoral Cemetery member, Sue Speed was in Melbourne 5 March 2022 and spent a productive morning in Coburg Cemetery with the Friends of Coburg Cemetery, Jenny Coppens, John McLean (Shade family researcher) and reinstated the plaque to the grave of the two brothers. FOBC and John McLean had connected via Ancestry.com.
Why this plaque ended up in Brisbane and in Balmoral Cemetery remains a mystery. Perhaps one of our creative Facebook friends could start a novel with the plaque story being the opening chapter!