Skip to content

Elizabeth Laing

foundHeadstones #done

20 October 1873 — 23 March 1875

Elizabeth Laing (29A)

Headstone

Fragments of Elizabeth Laing's headstone discovered in Toowong Cemetery Archaeological Digs in 2021.

  • Erected: North Brisbane Burial Grounds, Presbyterian section. After 23 March 1875
  • Moved to: North Brisbane Burial Grounds, Reserved Area. ca. 1914. Recorded as E. Laing
  • Demolished and disposed of in: Toowong Cemetery, Portion 29A. ca. 1930
  • Discovered: Toowong Cemetery, Portion 29A near Section 72. ca. May 2021

Inscription

Sacred
to
the memory of
Margaret Laing
died 6th February 18…
aged 14 months
also
Helen McKey L…
died 9th April …
…ed 11 mont…
an…
died …
ag…
Eliza…
died …
age…

Learn more

Birth registration: Elizabeth Laing
Birth date: 20/10/1873
Mother's name: Helen Matheson
Father/parent's name: Robert Laing
Registration details: 1873/B/16449

Death registration: Elizabeth Laing
Death date: 23/03/1875
Mother's name: Helen Matheson
Father/parent's name: Robert Laing
Registration details: 1875/B/9201

Next to him is a grave with four children named Laing, four little girls, Helen, Margaret, Ann and Elizabeth, aged 11, 13, 14, and 17 months, not one reaching two years of age. Three died in 1863, and one in 1873, so the first three must be the children of two mothers, unless two were twin. A cypress pine, "Callitris Robusta," evidently an old tree, has fallen between the two graves, and lies partly on the stone over Mathieson, with a branch over the little girls. The four dead children, the dead man, and the dead cypress ! There is no more pathetic or mournful scene in the cemetery.



Add to this Story