Cemetery site study

Students will be successful when they can:

• interpret sources and extract relevant information
• form opinions or make judgements about history
• empathise with people living in different times in history.

INQUIRY QUESTION: What can cemeteries and headstones tell us about people in the past?

Written in stone

History is not just written in books. You can find out about people in the past from many different places. Head stones in cemeteries can tell us about the lives of people who lived in the past. These inscriptions don’t just tell us about famous people of their time. They also tell us about ordinary people or forgotten people.

Cemeteries can tell us who they were and how they lived. An inscription will tell us their name, their date of birth and the date they died. They often tell us about their family members. We can also find out about their religious beliefs. We should always remember that a grave is the place where the remains of a person are buried. They were once alive and were important to their family, friends and admirers.

Cemeteries and graves are important places for history. We should respect them and take care of them for the future.  Some cemeteries are tourist attractions, where people go to visit the graves of great and famous people.

Digital Site Study: The Devonshire Street Cemetery

The major cemetery for 19th century Sydney, the Devonshire Street Cemetery was divided by walls into seven sections denoting religious denominations. The oldest was the Church of England section, then Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, Congregationalist, Wesleyan, Quaker and Jewish sections.

Consecrated in 1820, the cemetery filled quickly over the following decades. It was officially closed in 1867, but family vaults continued to accept new burials. By the end of the 19th century, the entire ground was overgrown and uncared for; burials had been made within every square inch, even under paths. Rubbish was often dumped from neighbouring terraces, and at night it was a dangerous, insalubrious place.

In January 1901 the State government announced its intention to clear the cemetery to make way for Central Station. It is estimated that over 30,000 bodies had to be removed. Descendants were given two months’ notice to decide where their forebears’ remains would be reinterred. Those not claimed would be transferred to Bunnerong cemetery, an extension of Botany cemetery.

Before the graves were exhumed, two dedicated locals from nearby Albion Street, Surry Hills, set about documenting the cemetery. Married couple Arthur and Josephine Ethel Foster were standing next to the headstone of ex-convict and successful businesswoman Mary Reibey when they decided to photograph and copy the inscriptions.

Mrs Foster photographed the headstones as Mr Foster cleared away the undergrowth and inked the text carved into the stone to ensure the words were clear. He also copied the inscriptions into notebooks. While the couple primarily documented the Church of England section, their record is extraordinary — it allows us to look back to 19th century Sydney and read the tragic accounts of short lives and misfortunate deaths.