In memory of man's best friend

Will YeomanThe West Australian
Camera IconThe Corrigin Dog Cemetery. Credit: Will Yeoman/The West Australian

Many of WA’s best places turn out to be the ones you visit on the way to somewhere else.

One such place is the Corrigin Dog Cemetery, just west of the Wheatbelt town, on the Brookton-Corrigin Road. Corrigin itself is about 230km from Perth.

Many is the time I’d passed this well-known cemetery and not been able to stop. This time, on my way to Esperance, I do, and am rewarded by a feeling of the utmost serenity.

Paddy Wright “established” the cemetery in 1975 by choosing this spot to bury his beloved dog, Strike.

Other people followed his example. Alan Henderson also provided headstones and ornamentation fashioned from refuse for many of the graves.

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There are apparently more than 200 dogs interred in this sad, beautiful place.

Camera IconOne of many beautiful memorials to beloved pets in the Corrigin Dog Cemetery. Credit: Will Yeoman/The West Australian

As I move with respect and reverence from grave to grave I note the profound effusions of grief and love forever etched on stone or carved on wood.

Such as this one:

“MINKEY

DOB 27.2.2012

DOP 28.04.2018

In loving memory of our beautiful baby girl.

We will hold you in our hearts for ever and ever.

If love could have saved you, you would have lived forever.”

There are many other such examples, some hard to read not because the elements have partially erased the lettering but because my eyes are filled with tears.

Camera IconAugust on his way to a new life in Perth. Credit: Will Yeoman/The West Australian

Some days later, on the way home, I pass this same spot. This time I don’t stop. Because I have company. A puppy, August, who needed to be transported from his foster home in Esperance to his new home in Perth.

Perhaps it’s just an idle fancy, but I don’t think August would appreciate having such a memento mori thrust under his nose at such a tender age.

So I drive on, hoping his new owners will prove as loving and affectionate as those who left these humble memorials to their cherished pets.

NOTE

This story was first published in the Sunday Times in June. I’ve since discovered that August (“Gus”) has, at 25 weeks of age, been returned to SAFE due to “change in circumstances”. This is very sad. Please go to the SAFE website and read more about Gus. You’ll fall in love with him, as I did. And maybe even be in a position to give him the loving home he deserves.

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