Although not officially gazetted as a cemetery reserve until 1872, the burial ground was used from at least March 1868 when Captain Henry Daniel Sinclair, founder of Bowen, was buried there.

In 1868 a committee was established to raise funds to fence the cemetery, and this was completed by July 1869, but there were no trustees and no burial register was being kept.

In 1886 the southeast corner of the original cemetery reserve was excised for school reserve as well, and new access to the main road was established with the addition to the cemetery of Lot 4 of Suburban Section 1 (5 acres at the corner of Church Street and Flinders Street West).

By 1878 a soap works, foundry and commercial buildings, together with Frederick Ashton's estate, were located close to the burial site, now situated within the town boundaries.

The community was worried that rainwater leaching from the hill was likely to contaminate a nearby creek, and in the 1890s the trustees searched for an alternative location for Townsville's general cemetery.

It remained a constant source of annoyance to the cemetery trustees that their resources were being spent on maintaining ground which did not contain graves.

Further changes to the cemetery boundary were made in 1935 when 3 acres, excised from the north east corner, was added to the adjacent school reserve.

The graves of Chinese, Jewish and Aboriginal people as well as members of lodges and those who committed suicide are buried in this section.

An avenue of mahogany trees, running north–south from the adjacent recreation reserve, marks the original entrance off the end of Pridmore Street.

[1] West End Cemetery contains many substantial headstones of quality design and craftsmanship, which illustrate trends in Queensland monumental architectural from the 1860s to the early 20th century.

Sandstone, which was not available locally, was brought from Helidon Quarry near Toowoomba, Coffs Harbour in New South Wales and from around Sydney.

[1] Many early inhabitants of Townsville and North Queensland are buried in West End Cemetery: A large mound in Block A is said to be a communal grave for child victims of an 1890s epidemic.

The place remains a substantially intact example of a 19th Queensland cemetery, containing early headstones, plantings and perimeter fencing.

The diverse collection of memorials, the location at the base of Castle Hill, the plantings and perimeter fencing, also exhibit significant and evocative aesthetic characteristics.

The Townsville community values the cemetery because of its association with the city and region's early founders, and because many local people have family buried there.

[1] The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland's history.