The information, list and images of Collaroy Station Private Cemetery have been contributed by Rewa Bate. Rewa explains:
Rowland John Traill, a medical doctor, practised in Wales for several years before sailing to Australia as surgeon superintendent on the "Susan" in 1840. He was the first doctor in Grafton NSW. Interested in land and stock management, he became manager of Clifton and Tenterfield Stations. When Captain H G Hamilton, his cousin E W T Hamilton and a friend, George Clive (father of Charles Farquhar Clive), purchased Collaroy Station at Cassilis, they appointed Dr Traill as its manager. Under his management, the property became a renowned merino stud.
There were once two cemeteries at Collaroy Station but the original became threatened by erosion. When Rowland John Traill's wife died in 1866, he purchased a block of ground for ten shillings in which to bury his wife and this became the site used from then on. Many convicts worked at Collaroy and doubtless some of them were buried in each of its cemeteries.
Rewa visited Collaroy in 1989 and 1995 when she listed the inscriptions and took photographs of some of them. On her last visit, she was disappointed to find the cemetery much degraded with broken fencing and fallen stones (compare the images above). The cemetery has since been Heritage listed. The inscriptions were compiled with reference to the NSW indices of births, deaths and marriages for additional information.
Collaroy Station Private Cemetery is about 16 km east of Cassilis and about 20 km west of Merriwa on the Golden Highway. Travelling from Merriwa, Collaroy homestead is on the left, and is back from the road. Take the first road (more a track really) on the left past the homestead. About 150 metres down this road the cemetery can be seen on the left. It is about 100 metres' walk down the hill but there is no walking track.