EARLY PIONEERS. - HISTORIC CEMETERY. PROPOSED REMOVAL. - The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954) - 2 Jan 1913 (original) (raw)

Loading article contents, please wait...

Thu 2 Jan 1913 - The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954)
Page 12 - EARLY PIONEERS.

Another agitation has been started for

the removal of the old Camperdown ceme-

tery, situated in the most thickly-populated

part of Newtown. Several attempts have been

made in the past to induce the authorities to

remove the remains buried there to some

spot away from population, and one sugges-

tion put forward is that the site should be

utilised as a park or recreation reserve.

The Mayor of Newtown, at the last meet-

ing of the council, submitted the following

minute:—"I would specially commend to the

council for their most thoughtful and serious

consideration early in the New Year the sug-

gestion of his Excellency the Govdernor (Lord

Chelmsford) to reverently convert the New-

town Cemetery, (on the lines that have been

done in connection with the cemetery at

Winchester, England) into a park for the

little children, who at present in this densely

populated portion of our municipality, are

forced to play in their all too small back-

yards. It is time, notwithstanding the oppo-

sition which the council has received from

the Board of Health, that a determined stand

should be made by this council and the

people of Newtown to prevent any further

burials in this densely populated municipality.

Sentiment in regard to the dear departed

must take a second place where the welfare

of the living is concerned."

The aldermen unanimously adopted the

In the historic God's-acre, where St. Stephen's

Church of England stands —known as

the old Camperdown cemetery —rest the

remains of many famous pioneers, and on the

tombstones is writ much history in brief.

The oldest record in the cemetery reads:

"In memory of James Bull, son of Mr. James

and Ann Bull, who departed this life January

11th, 1815, aged seven years and two months."

It is written in very big letters in the old

style, on an upright slab of stone, standing

alongside the church, near the entrance gates.

But as this cemetery was not opened till the

late forties, it is clear that coffin and stone

must have been brought thither from else-

There is another very old stone, the only

part of the inscription that is decipherable

being the words, "John Connell, aged 96

years." It is stated that Connell was given a

grant of land at Cronulla, and that the name

Cronulla (concerning the meaning of which

there has been much speculation) is really a

Here, too, lie the remains, in an elaborate

tomb, of "Lieutenant-General Sir Maurice

O'Connell, K.C.H , Colonel of H.M. 80th Regi-

ment of Foot, died May 25, 1848 —'Until the

day break and the shadows flee away.' "

It was Sir Maurice O'Connell after whom

O'Connelltown, now part of Newtown, was

named. His remains were originally interred

in the old Elizabeth-street cemetery—known

as the sandhills—and were removed to the

Camperdown cemetery in 1849.

Close by is another interesting record:

"Sacred to the memory of Sir James Everard

Home, Bart., C.B., F.R.S., of Well Manor

Farm, Hants. Departed this life on the 1st

of Nov, 1853. Captain of H.M.S. Calliope,

and senior officer on the Australian Station.

Another— "In memory of Colonel Sir Thomas

Livingstone Mitchell, Kt., D.C.L., etc., etc.,

etc., Surveyor-General of New South Wales,

who died 5th October, 1855, in his 64th year."

He was one of our famous explorers, and did

a great deal to open up this country.

Various other members of the family have

their last resting place beside him.

There are many naval and military officers

buried here, among them David H. Wright,

M.D., surgeon on H.M. S. Cordelia, who died

A name which reminds us of the beginning

of one of Australia's greatest business firms

is that of Samuel Gonnerman Dalgety, late

of the 45th Regiment, who died on July 15,

Many other well-known names are inscribed

on the tombstones in this cemetery—Simon

Rood Pittard, first curator of the Australian

Museum, who died in August 1861; Peter

Brennan, born at St. Peters in 1803 and died

in 1873; James Donnithorne, for many years

Governor of the Mint, died May 25, 1852, at

the age of 79; Macleay, Dumaresq, Belisario;

these and other names are there.

There are some names familiar to those

who have followed the history of music in

this country. For instance "Nicholas Charles

Bochsa, who died 6th January, 1856, aged 65.

This monument erected in sincere devotedness

by his faithful friend and pupil, Anna Bishop.

'Never more shall float such music, none

could sweep the lyre like he.' " And alongside

this is a stone "erected by Robert Shoobridge

in memory of George Peck, for some time

leader of the orchestra at the Princess Royal

Theatre, Sydney. Died 20th Sept, 1863."

A melancholy interest attaches to the tomb

erected in this cemetery by the Government,

enclosing the remains of those found after

the wreck of the Dunbar at South Head, on

Aug 20, 1857, and the foundering of the

Catherine Adamson after entering the harbour

on the morning of Oct. 24 in the same year.

Some distance away is another sad reminder

of the Dunbar. "Beneath this monument rest

the mortal remains of Hannah Maria Waller,

and her oldest daughter Mary Dowling Waller,

which were found on the extreme shore of

Middle Harbour, having been washed up and

drifted there from the wreck of the Dunbar

which occurred immediately under the signal

staff at the South Head on the night of the

20th August, 1857.' And on the other side of

the monument are the names of other mem-

bers of the same family, all of whom perished

on that fearful night fifty five years ago.

Now that Constantinople has been in peril,

a curious medieval prophecy seems worth re-

calling. In 1188, according to letters sent to

the King of France from his envoys at Con-

stantinople, the city was much perturbed in

consequence of a sentence mysteriously in-

scribed one night on the Golden Gate: " When

a fair-haired King comes from the West, I

shall open to him." This an old Greek monk

had interpreted to mean that the Latins would

eventually gain the mastery and rule in the