My mum

My mum is buried next to a man named William Saunders, an 'American Negro'. I remember mum telling me that she would be 'neighbours' with a black guy from America. What I didn't know is why she chose that spot.

Devenish cemetery is a small country town cemetery. It's laid out like any other. All the graves grouped together, kind of in rows. However, about 30 metres beyond the last row, across the dirt, right up against the back fence, on its own, is the grave of William. An 'American Negro' according to his gravestone.

William died in 1918 and because he was black, he wasn't allowed to be buried with the whites. That he was buried there at all shows, apparently, that he was respected. Maybe he worked for a rich local family, I'm not sure.

When mum visited the cemetery to choose her plot she saw William's grave and asked why he was out there on his own. When she heard the story of him not being allowed to be buried with the others in the cemetery, she thought that wasn't fair, and wasn't good enough. She chose to be buried next to him so he was no longer on his own.

Now there are two graves beyond all the others, across the dirt, right up against the back fence.

In a way this is mum's final act and I think it's a beautiful and amazing way to sum her up.

William's grave stone. You can see he's labelled 'American Negro'. That's why he wasn't buried with everyone else in the cemetery.

Mum and William, side by side at the cemetery's back fence. It's a very dry, Australian bush cemetery. 

Showing the distance between Mum and William, and the rest of the cemetery. They really are out there on their own.

The main part of the cemetery is separated into religions. Mum and William are in the 'ALL OTHERS' section. You can see this sign on the left in the picture above.