Penguin General Cemetery

26/09/2025

Goodbye, farewell, amen to our page for now it is time to bury it. A fitting end to a page about a defunct cemetery that gained heritage-listing becoming a tourist icon. 👍

22/09/2025

We’ll be closing this page in October. It’s been a great way to share and connect with our community over the years, but these days most of the info is easy to find on Google, ChatGPT, the cemetery app, in the media, and on the Penguin Heritage Trail website.

Thanks so much for your interest and support — we’ve really appreciated it!

06/09/2025

It seems timely to reflect on the future of this page. Our direct involvement with the cemetery has become minimal of late, so the options are either to let the page rest—or for someone else to take on the role of admin and carry it forward.

Over the years, Council—at the behest of our community—has transformed this once-neglected gem. That work has drawn national attention: extensive media coverage, most notably the Back Roads feature in 2020, seen by over a million viewers and still being replayed. The cemetery has its own Wikipedia page (ready for updating), is listed on numerous tourism sites, and has its own app.

Relatives and friends continue to return, installing headstones and plaques on long-forgotten burials. The cemetery has become a place for the living as much as for the dead, and this initiative has struck a chord across Australia.

If you feel called to continue sharing the story here, please reach out—we’d be glad to pass the baton. Otherwise, this page will quietly hibernate, its work well and truly done. 🙏

08/08/2025

Penguin Cemetery Walk - Saturday 6th September

📍 Penguin Cemetery, Main Road, Penguin
📅 Saturday 6 September 2025
🕡 6.30pm – 8.00pm
🎟 Free Event – Book via Humantix: https://events.humanitix.com/penguin-150th-birthday-cemetary-walk
👟 Dress warm and wear sturdy shoes

Step into Penguin’s past on a magical lantern-lit evening stroll through the Penguin Cemetery. Local historian Chris Banks will bring the stories of our forebears to life in this guided storytelling walk, blending history and heritage under the stars.

Highlights:
• Live harp music by the talented Kate Fraser
• Warm up with treats from food and coffee vans
• Westella Funerals giveaways and presence
• Engaging tales from Penguin’s past told by Chris Banks

This is a free community event as part of the Penguin 150 celebrations – bookings essential via Humantix.
Please note: this is not an all-access event due to terrain.

Proudly supported by Westella Funerals
Don’t miss this unique chance to walk through history!

14/07/2025

Automatic AI-powered translation is now live for Penguin’s two tourist apps: Ambling Among Penguin’s Charms and Stories from Penguin’s Heritage Cemetery This game-changing feature makes it easier than ever for visitors from around the world to explore Penguin and its stories in their own language. App users will see translations if their device language matches one of the supported languages.
Currently Supported Languages (from English):
• Traditional Chinese (繁體中文)
• Simplified Chinese (简体中文)
• Japanese (日本語)
• Korean (한국어)
• Spanish (Español)
• Italian (Italiano)
• French (Français)
• German (Deutsch)

17/04/2025

Another reason for tourist to ‘Come visit Penguin’.

This month our iconic Big Penguin achieved permanent heritage status, a unique listing by Heritage Tasmania. Hopefully more visitors will venture up to our much loved lookout heritage cemetery.

17/01/2025

An incredible week for Penguin with its Big Penguin provisionally heritage listed by Heritage Tasmania. Come April it may be made permanent. A huge success given the big pineapple is the only one of 250 big things in Australia to have this recognition. Ours will be the second and only one of 50 in Tasmania. Check out the heritage Tasmania website for details of the listing.

31/08/2024

Some interesting stats for this wet miserable but welcome day.

So far this year the two Penguin apps have been downloaded 5437 times. The four ‘Ambling among Penguin’s charms’ 4639 times & ‘Stories from Penguin’s heritage cemetery’ 798 times.
And we’ve never known just how far our stories go. Well now we do. The ABC TV news earlier this year re the penguin themed bins was shown on Vietnam TV news. Amazing what a simple generic google search brings up. So we wonder how far and wide the unfolding story of Penguin’s social housing challenge might go.

03/05/2024

A new sign promoting the very essence of Penguin's quirkiness. Council is yet to ok its size & placement, obviously somewhere in the vicinity of the big penguin for maximum exposure.
And all thanks to Shirly Good.

01/05/2024

Congratulations to Penguin’s people power in saving our themed trash bins. Not only are they saved we are getting 12 more. Check out TV news clip , article and audio on ABC. Our win is being celebrated across Australia.

A quick drop-in to the cemetery revealed 2 more headstones, near the garden. They too seem to be multiplying.

25/04/2024

ANZAC Day sunrise 2024

04/04/2024

Thanks to Shirly Good her range of Big Penguin costumes is now online at the Penguin Heritage Trail website.

http://penguinheritagetrail.com.au/gallery/

Our’big thing’ is Penguin’s most photographed attraction. What is less known is its fashion sense. So here’s an opportunity to make it even more famous.

Take a delightful stroll down memory lane and then zip back up to the present with our charming photo slideshows of Penguin, Tasmania. Just click the arrows to effortlessly glide between snapshots in time. Enjoy the journey! Slideshow 1: The Big Penguin Slideshow 2: Penguin, Tasmania Slideshow 3: Hi...