[1] The use of the area that became the Joskeleigh Cemetery was established on privately owned land at Sandhills/Joskeleigh by the late 1890s/early 1900s by the local South Sea Islander community.

By 1983 there were fifth-generation descendants of the original cane workers brought to the Rockhampton district in the late 19th century living in the Joskeleigh area.

[1] In Queensland, Islanders were introduced firstly as labour in the cotton industry and on pastoral properties, and later to work on the sugar plantations along the coast.

The community estimates that the Islander population had a 10% intermarriage rate with an Aboriginal tribe which lived in the area until the 1930s, when the last of these Indigenous people were forcibly removed to reserves.

[1] Traditional skills in fishing, net-making, medicine, horticulture and building continued to be practised and even taught in the local school, and this was a rich source of cultural pride and community cohesion.

In response, the local Islander community, led by Mrs Mabel Edmund, encouraged the National Trust to list the site in 1981 and formed the Joskeleigh Historical and Progress Association in 1983 to preserve the place.

[1] Fund raising commenced and negotiations with the then landholder were undertaken in order to purchase the area of land where the graves were located.

These discussions were unsuccessful and the Association, led by Mrs Edmund, lobbied the Queensland Government to resume the burial ground and officially declare it a reserve for cemetery purposes.

[1] The State Government bought a quarter acre of land surrounding most of the graves to preserve the area as an historical site.

The land was held in trust by the Joskeleigh Historical Society, however in recent times this has been handed over to the Livingstone Shire Council.

Little restoration work was undertaken until 1991, when graves were marked; headstones re-erected where possible; a stone monument was erected with a plaque which bears the names of all those buried in the cemetery; a fence and gates were constructed and a sign painted.

The Joskeleigh Cemetery has become an important and attractive part of the landscape and a source of pride to the community and a permanent reminder of South Sea Islander heritage.

It is bounded on the north by Joskeleigh Road and to the south, west and east by freehold property on which is located mature vegetation, including mango and pine trees.

The Joskeleigh Cemetery is comparatively rare in Queensland, as the final resting place for, predominantly, South Sea Islander people.

Joskeleigh Cemetery illustrates some of the principal characteristics of a small burial ground, including a lack of denominational divisions and locally connected interments.