Letter: Rookwood Cemetery

Author

Letter Writer

Subjects

History - general, Letter to the Editor

Tags

cemetery

RAN Ships

None noted.

Publication

March 2023 edition of the Naval Historical Review (all rights reserved)

Dear Editor,

The similarities between the Rookwood Cemetery, described in the article by Mark Bundy (December 2023 issue, p. 31), and the Brookwood Cemetery in Surrey, England, caused me to wonder if the Rookwood Cemetery followed a blueprint established by the London Necropolis Company.

The need to identify burial sites for the rapidly growing population of London, where space for this purpose was getting more difficult to find, came rather earlier than in Sydney. Founded in 1849, the London Necropolis Company was incorporated by Act of Parliament in 1852. It purchased 222 acres (89 ha) from the Onslow Estate at Brookwood which is 26 miles by rail from London Waterloo Station. The Company built a separate station adjacent to Waterloo. This was relocated a short distance away on Westminster Bridge Road in 1902. The cemetery site was divided into two with the northern section for Nonconformist burials and the southern section for the Church of England. The latter was consecrated by the Bishop of Winchester, Charles Sumner, on 7th November 1854 with the first burials taking place on the 13th of the same month.

There were three ticket classes for both passengers and hearses; return tickets issued to mourners and single tickets for the coffins. Third class burials were mainly of paupers and here each got the dignity of an individual grave in contrast to the usual practice of interring them in mass graves. On departing from the London Necropolis Railway Station, the trains joined the main line through Woking towards Basingstoke, Winchester and Southampton. At Brookwood, a short distance west of Woking, there was a junction leading to the cemetery where there were two receiving stations. The trains stopped first at the North Station and then at the South Station. Where the hearse carriages halted there were dips in the platforms to make removal of the coffins easier. Before catching a return train, people visiting often took picnics in the grounds. Funeral trains ceased following the demolition of the Waterloo Bridge Road station after bomb damage in World War II and the tracks in the cemetery were removed in 1947/48.

Military connections began in 1893 when a plot was set aside for the burial of deceased pensioners from the Royal Hospital, Chelsea (the Chelsea Pensioners). In 1917 a separate Military Cemetery of 37 acres (15 ha) was established. This is administered by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC). From World War I there are 1601 graves and from World War II 3476 British and Commonwealth graves. As well as these there are graves of Belgians, Czechoslovakians, Dutch, Germans, Free French, Italians and Polish. There are also memorials. The United Kingdom 1914–1918 Memorial commemorates 338 Commonwealth servicemen while the Brookwood Memorial commemorates 3248 Commonwealth men and women who died during World War II and have no known graves. The CWGC can organise tours of the Military Cemetery led by one of their very knowledgeable volunteer guides.

There are many other military graves in the main cemetery including those of twelve holders of the Victoria Cross while another three VCs are commemorated on memorials.

There is also a United States of America Military Cemetery of 4.5 acres (1.8 ha) holding 468 dead and commemorating 564 missing.

Access to all these cemeteries by rail is still easy by alighting at Brookwood Station, built 1864, from which there is direct access into the grounds. The cemetery is open every day except Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. There is a great deal of information available on the Internet and this is complemented by two books:

Clarke, John M. (1995) The Brookwood Necropolis Railway, Oakwood Press,

Clarke, John M. (2004) London’s Necropolis: A guide to Brookwood Cemetery, The History Press.

The parallels between Brookwood and Rookwood are striking and, should anyone know, I should be very interested to learn if the Australian Cemetery was, indeed, modelled on that in England.

Yours sincerely,

John McGrath

The following response was received from Mr Mark Bundy, General Manager – Operations Metropolitan Memorial Parks.

Thank you for forwarding to me the copy of the December edition of your quarterly magazine. I read with interest John’s article and am happy to share some information on the history of Rookwood.

With the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788 there was no official burial ground for the colony. In 1789 Captain John O’Shea from the Royal Marines approached Arthur Phillip and requested that when he died he wished to be buried in his vegetable garden. Arthur Phillip saw no problem with this as at the time his garden was on the outskirts of the colony. This operated up until the early 1820s and it is believed that 71 members of the First Fleet were buried there.

As the colony grew a new site was established which was referred to as the Devonshire Street Cemetery. The correct name for this cemetery was Brickfield Hill or the Sand Hills cemetery. Devonshire Street was the road that led to it.

By the 1840s land was running out and a new cemetery was sought. It was initially suggested that Moore Park near the Sydney Cricket ground be used. Debate ensured and smaller cemeteries such as Camperdown which opened in 1848 handled the demand.

With the opening of the Sydney to Parramatta Railway line in 1855 government representatives looked at various sites as Parramatta was becoming the new growth centre of the Colony. Two hundred acres of land was for sale by the Cohen Brothers for £10 per acre, with the option for the government to purchase another 560 acres at a later date. This can be seen in Google Maps where Haslem’s Drive shows the original boundary. It is to be noted that Rookwood is bigger than the CBD of Sydney and approximately half way between Sydney and Parramatta. With the opening of the cemetery on 1 July 1867 the site was divided up to be governed by individual Cemetery Trusts. The original name was to be Haslem’s Creek Cemetery.

Rookwood is the largest operating Victorian era cemetery in the world. The land around the Rail Receiving House No 1 was divided into Congregational, Jewish, Church of England, Catholic, Wesleyan (Primitive Methodist), Presbyterian and Pagan. It is ironic the cemetery operated in this fashion up to 2012 when all Cemetery Trusts amalgamated, except for the Catholics who remained separate.

As the railway played a significant role in its history there has been a belief that Rookwood is named after Brookwood Cemetery. Further research has found that the township of Haslem’s Creek, located next to the cemetery, was horrified to be associated with the cemetery. In 1878 the cemetery ranger, Mr Richard Slee, was walking through the cemetery and noticed the large number of crows. These reminded him of the ravens and rooks of England. He forwarded this suggestion to the government of the time and to pacify adjoining residents the name was changed to Rookwood Cemetery. The township of Haslem’s Creek eventually changed its name in 1914 to Lidcombe. This was the combination of the names of two popular Mayors, Lidbury and Larcombe.

At its peak Rookwood had four railway stations located in its grounds. With the closing of the line in 1948 the individual trusts were offered the chance to purchase Rookwood Receiving House No 1 for £1 (the other three were dismantled and removed).

None of the trusts wanted to invest in the building and it fell into disrepair and was vandalised. With the threat of demolition in 1957 the Rev. Buckle from the suburb of Ainslie in Canberra raised £100 and moved the Station stone by stone using 83 semi-trailer loads where it was rebuilt as All Saints Anglican Church.

Kind regards

Mark Bundy