Devonshire Street Cemetery

Devonshire Street Cemetery
Details
Established 1820
Disestablished 1867
Location New South Wales, Brickfield Hill, Sydney
Country Australia
Type No longer extant
Size 11 acres (4.5 hectares)
Number of interments 21,000
Find a Grave Devonshire Street Cemetery
Footnotes Last interment 1867
closed and re-used 1901

The Devonshire Street Cemetery (also known incorrectly as the Brickfield Cemetery or Sandhills Cemetery) was located between Eddy Avenue and Elizabeth Street, and between Chalmers and Devonshire Streets, at Brickfield Hill, in Sydney, Australia. It was consecrated in 1820.[1] The Jewish section was used from 1832.[2] By 1860, the cemetery was full, and it was closed in 1867.

History

In 1820, Governor Macquarie ordered the consecration of the Devonshire Street Cemetery. A brick wall was erected before any interments took place to enclose its 4 acres (1.6 hectares). Within a four-year period the cemetery was expanded by the addition of 7 acres (2.8 hectares) to its south. A road was formed along the southern boundary of the cemetery in the first half of the 1830s and was called Devonshire Street. The Devonshire Street Cemetery, where many of the early settlers were buried, was later moved to build the Sydney railway terminus.

In 1901, the cemetery was resumed to allow for the development of Central railway station, Sydney and representatives of deceased persons buried in the Devonshire Street cemetery were given two months to arrange for exhumation and removal of remains from the cemetery.[3][4] All reasonable costs were borne by the Government of New South Wales.[5] The remains that were unclaimed were relocated to a purpose-built cemetery named Bunnerong Cemetery.[6] Remains that were claimed were transferred to a number of cemeteries as listed below. Bunnerong Cemetery, south of the city, had a tram line constructed to make the removal of recasketed remains as simple as possible. Bunnerong Cemetery was next to the Botany Cemetery and, in the early 1970s, was absorbed by that cemetery to create the Eastern Suburbs Memorial Park. Central railway station was opened on 4 August 1906.

Metropolitan cemeteries

Cemetery locations in the metropolitan region that took re-interments from Devonshire Street Cemetery include Gore Hill cemetery, St Thomas Cemetery in Crows Nest, Rookwood Cemetery, Waverley Cemetery, Balmain Cemetery, Camperdown General Cemetery, Randwick General Cemetery, Eastern Suburbs Memorial Park, Field of Mars Cemetery and South Head General Cemetery. Remains were also relocated outside the metropolitan area, including Sandgate Cemetery in Newcastle, New South Wales.

An index created from a number of previous collections of information, including some remaining original cemetery registers, called the Devonshire Street Cemetery re-interment register and index ("microform" format) was produced by the Library of Australian History, North Sydney, 1999. A copy is held by the State Library of New South Wales.[7] A hardback book version was also produced.

References

  1. ↑ Johnson, K.A. and Sainty, M.R., Sydney Burial Ground 1819-1901 and History of Sydney's Early Cemeteries from 1788. Library of Australian History, Sydney 2001.
  2. ↑ The Australian Jewish Genealogical Society has produced a CD covering burials in the Old Jewish Section at Rookwood Cemetery in Sydney, which includes details of transfers from Devonshire Street Cemetery.
  3. ↑ "RESUMPTION OF THE DEVONSHIRE-STREET CEMETERY.". The Sydney Morning Herald (19,578). New South Wales, Australia. 11 December 1900. p. 8. Retrieved 15 July 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  4. ↑ "THE DEVONSHIRE-STREET CEMETERY.". Evening News (10,486). New South Wales, Australia. 17 January 1901. p. 6. Retrieved 15 July 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  5. ↑ "THE DEVONSHIRE-STREET CEMETERY.". The Sydney Morning Herald (19,624). New South Wales, Australia. 2 February 1901. p. 10. Retrieved 16 July 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  6. ↑ "NOBODY'S FRIENDS.". Evening News (10,631). New South Wales, Australia. 6 July 1901. p. 1 (EVENING NEWS SUPPLEMENT). Retrieved 15 July 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  7. ↑ Library of Australian History (1999), Devonshire Street Cemetery re-interment register and index, Library of Australian History, retrieved 29 July 2014

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/15/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.