Over the years the council committee has placed plaques and plinths on graves without headstones or any identification.

Lynne said they started with the main cemeteries but there were a lot of smaller ones such as Burraga, Isabella, Black Springs, Porters Retreat, Hazlegrove, Mutton Falls and Brisbane Valley.

“We have sourced information locally but also from National Library government gazettes,” she said.

“Reading through archives has been interesting. In the 1800s there were 1900 Chinese miners at Native Dog and Gilmandyke. In a report there was a mining accident with lots of drownings.

“We are unsure where these people are buried in the area, and the same is with the convicts in the area.

“There are still convict descendants living in the area today.

“In the Oberon area alone there are about 200 graves that are unidentified, let alone the ones in private gardens and farming properties.”

Lynne said over the years they have had help from Pat Dwyer, Kevin Ryan, Sister Marie Therese, Aileen Hill and Alan Hoolihan.

“And when it came to physically mounting the plaques we called on our husbands, Joe Agland and Bruce Armstrong,” she said.

Lynne said control of registering deaths was handed over to councils in 1967. A lot of information during the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s has been lost or there is no information at all.

“Once you start researching you find there was a high mortality rate in some area.

“Settlers survived on spuds, kangaroo and rabbits. Their diets were very ordinary. Babies died because they couldn’t feed properly. Early settlers lived in huts and tents in fairly rough conditions. You can imagine what it was like in a climate like Oberon.”

Lynne has also written short stories on the lives of some of the more colourful characters who resided in Oberon. This research has been a passion for Lynne and she said there is a series of stories to come soon.