The cemetery was established in 1872 according to the files held by the Victorian Heritage Inventory. The first recorded burial is that of Rachel Holmes, wife of William Holmes, who died at the age of 66 years in 1877. This date is relatively late in comparison to the early settlement of the area. This reflects the nineteenth century tradition of the area to inter people in private burial grounds, usually located on family properties.
The Bridgewater Cemetery is located some 3 km west of the township of Bridgewater. The reserve is a rectangular space of seven acres, three roods and five perches (Dept. of Crown Lands and Survey, nd). The graves are grouped in the conventional manner, according to denominations. There are no structures on the site. No formal plantings visible, although the borders of the reserve appear to be massed with Boobyalla, a common hedging plant in the area (it is not known whether this is a deliberate planting). The graves of many families who made important contributions to the development of the Bridgewater community are located in the cemetery, and represented through a range of gravestones and memorials. Unusually, the earliest burials date from 1877, as most burials took place in private cemeteries or crypts on family properties until that time.