Located 150 metres south of the Adelaide River Railway Bridge the small cemetery contains a number of graves marked by headstones, wooden markers and star pickets.

The Adelaide River Pioneer Cemetery was the first European cemetery in Adelaide River. It is uncertain when the cemetery was established but it is believed that the first burial was of a young gold-miner, Edwin Allen, who died on 16 November 1874. The last burial at the cemetery was for John George Chapman on 1 September 1971. He was buried in the grave occupied by his mate Alf Hatt, hence the two grave markers for the one grave.