Templers Cemetery
Located at 1145 Horrocks Highway, Templers, at the rear of the former Wesleyan Church, now converted into a residence. The site contains traditional burials.
History
The Wesleyan Methodists built the Mt Bethel Wesleyan Jubilee Chapel c 1863, the adjoining graveyard has marked graves dating from 1863, with the most recent grave dated 1946. In 1864 John Watsford, Chairman of the Wesleyan Methodist Church, the Rev. Flockart, Superintendent of the Circuit, and a group of local farmers including the Chessons and the Simpsons, together with a blacksmith and a butcher from Gawler acquired the title to this property. In 1973 it was vested in the Methodist Church (SA) Property Trust.
This is an example of a rural Methodist church with a graveyard, playing an important part in the lives of local residents as a place of worship for Methodists from the time of construction in 1863. It displays historical, economic and social themes that are of importance to the local area as it was part of the initial settlement in this area that serviced travellers on the main road leading to the north. Representing customs and ways of life that are characteristic of the local area, reflecting the cooperative efforts of early country communities to provide for their needs.