The second ‘Stories in Stone’ cemetery heritage conference took place in Brisbane back on Sunday 16 August and I’m still buzzing from just how well it went.
For me, this was the second such event I’ve been involved in organising. The whole cemetery conference idea took hold in late 2023 when I attended a local history conference organised by the Stephens-Annerley History Group and thought, ‘what if there was an event like this but just about cemeteries?’ I checked around and it looked like nothing like that had ever been done before, so it would be something of a first.
I discussed this idea with Stephen Sheaffe, one of the Annerley conference organisers, and we got the ball rolling. He approached the Royal Historical Society of Queensland, who organised the sales and in-event logistics, while Stephen and I did the rest, such as putting together the programme. The first Stories in Stone conference took place at the RHSQ’s Commissariat Store in early 2024 and proved to be a success (you can read about that one here).
There was immediate talk of a follow-up, but as the RHSQ had a full plate of events planned for the Brisbane council centenary in 2025, I set out to put together another Stories in Stone with a small independent committee. This turned out to be me, Jenny Clark (Friends of Balmoral Cemetery) and Jess Parker (cemetery history researcher), all of whom had spoken at the first Stories in Stone conference. We then partnered with Brisbane Living Heritage to book the beautiful and heritage-listed Hamilton Town Hall as the conference venue.1
Expressions of Interest were sent out for presenters with the initial aim of involving the various cemetery Friends groups around Brisbane, but for various reasons that involvement never happened, except for the very splendid Friends of Balmoral Cemetery who proved to be invaluable. What we did get, however, was a fine range of passionate presenters including cemetery historians, authors, academic researchers, headstone cleaning volunteers, cemetery management professionals, musicians, and social media creators.
The programme and info on each presenter can be seen on the Stories in Stone website.
Over the following months the committee pored over every possible logistical aspect of hosting a conference and planned accordingly. For me, a personal highlight of Stories in Stone was how all that planning paid off, with the conference being successful in three key areas – Programme, Delivery and Attendance.
The programme turned out to be exceptional as the presenters did a fantastic job. There was a lot of variety in subject matter and presentation styles, and each person on the stage proved to be very knowledgeable and entertaining. I think it was this expertise, presentation experience, and especially the variety of perspectives that really set the tone for the day. A lovely welcoming speech from Cllr Vicki Howard also lent the conference a crucial degree of authority. The immediate feedback I heard during and after the event was hugely positive.
While the presenters delivered the goods on stage, I was particularly relieved that everything ran smoothly in terms of delivery and logistics. This included audiovisual technology, session timing, stage set-up, MCing, and registration and seating. It is quite rare that you get through any conference or seminar without audiovisual issues, but we avoided those. The catering for lunch and two tea breaks was superbly handled by the Friends of Balmoral Cemetery, whose volunteers were some of the real heroes of the day.
The attendance was also excellent. Our sales target, based on hall capacity, was 85 people. In the end we hit 90% of that target, which we were satisfied with given that some anticipated marketing outlets had not been available to us, for various reasons. We had around 90 people (including presenters and volunteers) present at the conference.
Aside from numbers though, the composition of the audience itself was really good, with lots of good questions and discussion points coming up through the day. Socialising around the lunch and tea breaks was also an absolute pleasure.
So yes, I was very happy with how it all turned out, especially as I had spent some time imagining all the things that might have gone wrong. I think Jess and Jenny can be absolutely proud for having been a central part of creating this unique event and pioneering conference.
As for the future, a Stories in Stone 3 is definitely on the cards for next year. We are still reviewing the outcome of the recent event, but we are in a solid position as we have been through an invaluable learning experience and in the process established a successful brand, a network of contacts, and a financial and administrative base.
- Thanks to the Brisbane City Council for allowing community bookings for these venues. ↩︎
Christopher Dawson 