The seven interpretive signs recognise district pioneers buried at the cemetery and form part of the Canberra Tracks network of self-drive heritage trails.

Funded by Queanbeyan City Council and the ACT Government, the unveiling coincided with Queanbeyan's Heritage Festival.

Queanbeyan mayor Tim Overall said the cemetery was a key part of the city's history and heritage.

Leg 1``It is the final resting place for very prominent and quite ordinary people that were a part of the pioneering history for Queanbeyan,'' he said.

``There are 5000 people buried here, therefore there are 5000 stories that form part of our heritage.''

ACT Chief Minister Jon Stanhope said the Queanbeyan Riverside Cemetery was acknowledged as a locally significant heritage cemetery for the ACT and surrounding region.

``More than seven decades before Canberra even came into being the cemetery was the resting place for many of the pioneer families of this region,'' he said.

``This project commemorates and keeps alive the stories of our shared past.''

The signs, which are scattered around the boundaries of the cemetery, detail its historical significance and explain practices at the time, including why the graves all face east and the importance of church denomination burial segregation.

They also profile some of the pioneers buried at the cemetery, including John Gale and the Gale family, Queen Nellie Hamilton a prominent Aboriginal elder of Queanbeyan who was buried outside the fence of the cemetery and Alured Tasker Faunce the first police magistrate who brought cricket to Queanbeyan.

Linda Roberts from ACT Heritage said the signs were made with assistance from the Queanbeyan Museum and the Queanbeyan Historical Society and used photographs from the Queanbeyan Age.

``We really wanted to get the ownership of the locals,'' she said.

``I think with the real rising interest of people wanting to research their family tree it brings people back in the region.

``It says a lot more than who was there, when they were born and when they died, we hope the signs here will enhance people's experience of history and that they can learn a bit more from it.''