There is a small cemetery at Harvey’s Return near Cape Borda on Kangaroo Island. According to https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/2506227/harvey's-return-cemetery, “This is the cemetery that the people who died at the Flinders Lightstation (Cape Borda Light) Cape Borda were buried. This lighthouse was opened and manned in mid-1858. The first deaths that occurred at the lighthouse were buried in the near vicinity. The first burial was of George William Woodward - Headlight keeper who died 13/9/1858. When it became apparent that a cemetery was required the Harvey's Return Cemetery was created and opened. All of those who had died and were buried at the lighthouse were transferred into this new cemetery. Today by road the distance between the lighthouse and cemetery is 19.5 km along a curving road. This would have not been the route used 1859-1930 while the cemetery was still in regular use - they would have only had an around 11km trek on a more direct route. Harvey's Return was also the closest safe harbor for the lighthouse and where the supplies were collected every 12 then later 6 months.”
The web page at http://ozburials.com/CemsSA/capeborda.htm appears to list the names of all of the people that have been buried in the Harvey’s Return Cemetery, as follows: -
CINZIO , Davide. Husband of Tina. Last Lighthouse keeper at Cape Borda. His ashes were scattered in this cemetery where early Lighthouse keepers were buried. . 10 June 1939 - 11 November 2004
JENNESON , Lily . 14 July 1884
JOHNSON , Infant. 19 July 1862 aged 1 month. Infant daughter of Charles and Mary Ann Johnson. . 19 July 1862. Aged 1 months
KERR , Edward, Captn October 1885 . Aged 54 years
KOPP , Irene. Daughter J.E.K. 17 September 1895
KOPP , Jane E. Wife of Light Keeper. 19 April 1903
MAIN , Arthur. son of Light Keeper. 30 November 1877
MAIN , William Thom 9 May 1875 . Aged 7 years 6 months
WELLS , Light Keeper. 1873
WILLS , Augusta. Wife of Light Keeper. 22 August 1884
WOODWARD , G. W. First Light Keeper. 13 September 1858
The same web page also features these details: -
“A plaque in this cemetery reads:
Early settlers in this area included Nat Thomas who, with his Tasmanian Aboriginal wife Betty, arrived on Kangaroo Island in 1827 and farmed the area at the Eastern end of Antechamber Bay until 1878.
This couple had 3 children, a son and 2 daughters. The elder daughter, Mary, born in May 1833, was the first documented child of a European born in South Australia.
While not always well treated, the aboriginal companions of the pre-1836 settlers made a significant contribution to the early development of the island, several were brought from Tasmania and others mainly from nearby Fleurieu Peninsula.
Betty died in 1878, and while the actual site of her grave is unknown, it is believed to be in this vicinity.
Kangaroo Island Pioneers Association Inc
Department of State Aboriginal Affairs.
Several images can be found at https://www.exploroz.com/places/107690/sa+harveys-return-cemetery , including this one: -
Although there are no shipwrecked sailors in the cemetery, there apparently is this memorial plaque for those lost from the Finnish barque Fides in 1860: -
It reads:
"In memory of the Finnish Barque FIDES of Kristinestad wrecked off snug cove on 22nd May 1860 when the following members of her crew lost their lives:
Fredrik ASPLUND, (captain)
Alexander LUNDGREN, (2nd mate)
Eric DAHL, (boadswain)
Edvard HAGGSTROM, (able seaman)
Hans STROM, (able seaman)
J.H. HOGMARK (2nd carpenter)
C.H. LAGERSTROM, (cook)
Anders GROOP, (ordinary seaman)
F.R. WORLUND, (ordinary seaman)
Mats SUNDMAN, (cabin boy)
In my 2006 article titled Old Jetties Associated with Lighthouses (Part 1) , I wrote, “Harvey’s Return is a small rocky cove about 4kms east of the Cape Borda lighthouse.
According to Rodney Cockburn’s book “South Australia – What’s in a Name? Historically significant place names” the name for Harvey’s Return comes from the surname of a sealer on the island in 1834. He is said to have lived with his mate Whalley at what is now known as Kingscote.
In 1834 Whalley kept watch for Harvey’s boat whilst Harvey went out to sea on a sealing expedition. Whalley walked to Cape Borda where Harvey tried to land his boat. The cliffs at Cape Borda are 400 feet high and landing there was impossible. The two men searched the coastline for a spot where Harvey could land his boat. They found a cove 2½ miles east of Cape Borda where Harvey managed to land. Although the cove had already been known as Murrell’s Bay, after a seal hunter named James Murrell, it now became known as “Harvey’s Return”. One of the passengers on the Africaine when it brought settlers to Kangaroo Island in 1836, a Michael Calnan, claimed to have landed at Harvey’s Return.
According to “A Cruising Guide to Historic Gulf Ports – Vol.2” by Graham Scarce, “The cove (at Harvey’s Return) was the landing place for the construction workers who built the Cape Borda Lighthouse”. The first thing that the workers built though was a small jetty at the cove. A double trackway (double set of rails) was then built up the incline from the jetty and a pathway was built between the cove and the proposed site of the lighthouse. The trackway up the incline ran up to a level site close to the top.
A stone storage hut was built there on the level area and a capstan (horse-drawn winch) was also installed there. It seems that the capstan was powered by just one horse. Horses were used to haul small rail cars laden with stores and equipment to the top of the tracks.
The jetty at Harvey’s Return was used for the landing of supplies for the lighthouse. A 2-foot tramway was constructed along the pathway to Cape Borda and an engine-operated crane replaced the horse-drawn capstan in 1923. The crane was built on a ledge 215m away. In 1926, however, the embankment below the stone storage hut began to crack and the engine-operated crane was badly affected by salt spray.
Stores were landed at Harvey’s Return every three months until it was abandoned in 1928 when the road from Kingscote to Cape Borda was completed.
Some of my references say that the beach and rocks are still littered with the rusty remnants of the rails laid up the track. We found a few small pieces on the track itself, but not very much. There are interpretive signs about the tramway in the area. The following photograph shows one of the signs (“Bringing up supplies”) with a photo of the hillside tramway circa 1933.
One of my references says that “A crane was erected at the side of the cove to allow supplies to be unloaded from a boat without a hazardous journey through the breaking waves” and “the crane pedestal still sits atop a rock in the cove”. Horses were used to haul the lighthouse keepers’ stores on small rail cars up the hillside tramway with the help of a winch, a capstan at the top of the hillside track where the ground was flatter. A ‘flying fox’ was then used for transporting the supplies from the jetty to the lighthouse. Part of the horse capstan can still be seen hidden in the bushes at the top of the track. Remains of the machinery can apparently still be found scattered around the cove.
There is a cemetery nearby where many lighthouse keepers and their families were buried, including Captain Woodward, the first lighthouse keeper. Woodward Hut is, no doubt, named after him.”
Below is what I had written about the lighthouse itself: -
“Cape Borda lighthouse
Cape Borda is on the NW cape of Kangaroo Island, at the NW corner of …. Flinders Chase National Park. ….. The square-shaped Cape Borda lighthouse was commissioned on 13th July 1858. (Several heights have been given for the lighthouse, from 6m to 10m. I have read that it was 9m high when it was first built and that another metre was added to the height of the stone tower in 1912.)
The signal gun in front of the lighthouse was used to alert ships that came too close and to give the 1o’clock time signal for the adjusting of their chronometers. ….. (The lighthouse is also known as the Flinders Light). ….. A former storeroom for lighthouse supplies is now known as Woodward Hut (after Captain Woodward, the first lighthouse keeper).
There were four keepers and their families, plus three telegraph operators and their families during the early years. The lighthouse was connected by cable telegraph and served as a Lloyds signal station for many years. The lighthouse was manned until 1989 but it has been automatic ever since.”
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