A ONETIME rugby union international who also held sway as a doctor at Trial Bay Gaol, lies in an unmarked grave at Kempsey cemetery.
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The remarkable life of Dr Brabazon Casement was brought to the attention of the Argus by self described history enthusiast Dean Hepburn.
Dr Casement, born in 1852, was a skilled athlete who captained the first Irish rugby union team to play England and led them to a victory.
After retiring from sports he pursued a career in medicine, but due to the unfortunate sudden passing of his wife, he needed a change of scenery and moved to Australia with his young child.
Dr Casement was travelling through Kempsey and was so drawn to the landscape, he decided to make it his new home. This is where he met his new wife and they had four more children.
Upon arrival in the Macleay, he took over a practice that covered vast areas on horseback and then later in his career became the first doctor at the historic Trial Bay Gaol.
At the time of his death in 1910, Dr Casement was one of the largest land and stock owners in the area, holding extensive properties in the Upper Macleay and Barraganyatti.
Coincidently, Dr Casement was on his way to buying a new property when he was killed in a carriage accident at age 58.
Interestingly he had a famous cousin, Sir Roger Casement, who was an Irish diplomat executed for treason by the British Government during WWI. He was sentenced for assisting German-backed plans to liberate the Indian population from the British Raj regime.
Dr Casement is buried in the Presbyterian section in an unmarked grave at West Kempsey cemetery and also has a monument on the grounds of Kempsey Hospital.
Historian Dean, whose passion is the research of World War I veterans, hopes to see QR codes put up on these historic graves. Scanning the QR code with a mobile phone would generate a brief history of the buried individual's life, making it easier for people to learn about the past and track down long lost relatives.
"I just don't want these stories to be lost to time." Dean said.
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