Malcolm Young gravesite

Malcolm Young — the rhythm guitarist and co-founder of AC/DC, the man most responsible for the band's sound — died on November 18, 2017, aged 64, after a long battle with dementia. He was buried at Waverley Cemetery in Bronte, one of Sydney's most dramatic and beautiful burial grounds, perched on sandstone cliffs above the Tasman Sea. His funeral service, attended by surviving AC/DC members and family, was held at St Mary's Cathedral in Sydney on November 28, 2017.

The significance of Malcolm Young to rock music cannot be overstated. While Angus Young's schoolboy uniform and stage theatrics were the band's visual calling card, it was Malcolm's relentless, grinding rhythm guitar — and his iron-willed creative control — that made AC/DC what it was. He wrote or co-wrote virtually every song in the catalogue and maintained an almost obsessive control over the band's direction. Keith Richards once described him as one of the greatest rhythm guitarists who ever lived. His illness forced him to leave the band in 2014; the world only learned of his diagnosis when he died.

Waverley Cemetery is heritage-listed and open to visitors, its graves spread across clifftop grounds with views over Bronte Beach. Malcolm Young shares the cemetery with many notable Australians, though his grave — like the man himself — is understated compared to his legacy. AC/DC fans make the journey regularly, leaving guitar picks and other tributes at the site.