Its site was surveyed by licensed surveyor and Mackay identity Thomas Henry Fitzgerald (owner of the Alexandra sugar plantation) in late 1865.

The first trustees were local luminaries Thomas Henry Fitzgerald, John Spiller (Pioneer Plantation), David Hay Dalrymple (Mayor of Mackay), George Smith and William McBryde (Secretary).

Other standard features included a central carriageway lined by evergreen trees, as were other paths in preference to groupings of trees, leading to a focal structure in the centre of the cemetery, use of plant species with some symbolism related to death or mourning, and a grid pattern of graves accessible by paths or roadways.

[1] The wide variety of elaborate monuments was also a feature of late Victorian cemeteries and reflected popular taste at the time.

This trend culminated in the development of low maintenance lawn cemeteries after World War II with plaques set close to, or flush with the ground.

[1] The variety of monuments and inscriptions reflects the changing demography of the Mackay region from its earliest days until the closure of the cemetery in the 1990s.

A range of ethnic and cultural groups came to Mackay to work in the region's main industry: sugar cane growing and processing.

[1] South Sea Islanders were the earliest and most numerous of the ethnic groups who came to the region to work in the sugar industry.

[1] Other ethnic groups employed in the sugar industry included Javanese (from the 1880s), Singhalese (Sri Lankans) (from the 1880s), Japanese, and Southern Europeans, notably Maltese (from 1912) and Italians.

The Muslim graves include a slab design finished with decorative tiles in a manner that is typically Indonesian.

For some of these ethnic groups, particularly the Japanese and Javanese, graves are the only extant physical evidence of their presence in the Mackay region between the late 19th and early 20th century.

[1] Other notable burials include monuments for: Andrew Diehm who accompanied the explorer William Landsborough on his explorations of the Burdekin and Bowen area; Houston Stewart Dalrymple Hay, the Harbour Master and Pilot for Mackay in the 1870s for whom Dalrymple Bay and Hay Point are named; and former mayors of Mackay including Henry Black (after whom Blacks Beach is named) who held the office three times.

Many of the district's early clergy are buried in the cemetery including Mackay's first Catholic priest, Father Pierre-Marie Bucas (after whom Bucasia was named).

[1] The cemetery is laid out in a grid and subdivided into denominational sections, with specific areas designated for Church of England/Anglican, Presbyterian, Methodist, Lutheran and Catholic burials.

[1] A variety of monuments are found throughout the cemetery, including upright slabs, obelisks, crosses, angels, urns and bibles.

Downes, Bowser Co Ltd., Brett & Nott, A.M. Rappell of Mackay, Jaceurs & Son of Royal Park Melbourne, B.

An avenue of mature Camphor Laurels (Cinnamomum camphora) lines the northern side of the central drive.

[1] The shelter shed has a rectangular hipped roof, clad in corrugated iron and supported by square posts.

Decorative arches span between the posts and a solid balustrade runs along the north and south edges with timber bench seating along the inner face.

The cemetery therefore provides important evidence of the history and demography of this key sugar-producing region (one of Queensland's oldest and largest) in particular its cultural and ethnic diversity.

[1] The cemetery contains the graves of people from a range of the ethnic groups employed by the sugar industry through time, including South Sea Islanders, Javanese, Singhalese (Sri Lankans), Japanese, Maltese and Italians.

For some of these groups, the graves in this cemetery are the only extant physical evidence of their presence in the Mackay region between the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The progressive layering, development and diversity of styles of memorialisation within the cemetery document changing attitudes to death and fashions in funerary ornamentation since the 1860s.

These comprise: its denominational divisions including an alien section intended for non-Christian burials, the layout of graves in a grid divided by paths and roadways, the central carriageway lined by evergreen trees, and the variety of monuments illustrating a range of religious and cultural preferences through time.

These key characteristics combine to create an atmosphere of repose and reflection, a quality recognised as important to properly honouring and remembering the dead by many Queenslanders.