Mid North Coast Pioneers - Newcastle to Lismore and beyond

Marion Purnell notes on her web site the following transcription:

" [LID] In Memory of HANNAH the beloved wife of WILLIAM FULLAGAR Died May 3, 1852 Aged 32 years Also ESTHER beloved Mother of WILLIAM FULLAGAR Died Sep 27 1861 Aged 77 years Also JOHN Beloved Father of WILLIAM FULLAGAR Died Aug 7 1875 aged 90 years Also ROY GEORGE Son of HENRY AND MARY FULLAGAR Died Nov 14 18-- aged 3 months Also SARAH FRANCES FULLAGAR Died March 24 1889 aged 5 years Also WILLIAM FULLAGAR Husband of the above Died Aug 8 1894 aged 78 years. [EAST FACE] In Memory of SUSANNAH BARNETT Dearly beloved wife of THOMAS BARNETT and fourth daughter of WILLIAM FULLAGAR who departed this life May 8 1876 aged 26 years [NORTH FACE] To the memory of FLORENCE EMILY Youngest daughter of WILLIAM and SARAH FULLAGAR who departed this life July 1st 1863 aged 15 months Weep not She is not dead but sleepeth To the memory of MARY ESTHER Beloved daughter of WILLIAM & HANNAH FULLAGAR who departed this life Sepr 11th 1863. Aged 21 years and 4 months Her end was peace [WEST FACE] To the memory of FRANCIS LATHAM the dearly beloved third son of WILLIAM and SARAH FULLAGAR who departed this life Jan 9 1881 aged 23 years He has gone to a bright and happy home Where trouble and sorrow are unknown [SOUTH FACE] To the memory of JOHN FULLAGAR the beloved son of WILLIAM & HANNAH FULLAGAR who departed this life 9 December 186 aged 18 years and 3 months Dearly beloved by all who knew him In memory of GEORGE THOMAS FULLAGAR Second beloved son of WILLIAM and SARAH FULLAGAR who died February 3 1879 aged 23 years Safely in Heaven I am waiting for thee."

St. John's Cemetery, Parramatta, NSW

Extracts from “The Parramatta Cemeteries - St John's" by Judith Dunn of the Parramatta and District Historical Society, 1991)

St John’s Cemetery, the oldest existing European burial ground in Australia, was established on the southern outskirts of the Rose Hill settlement in 1790. There were ten burials in the cemetery by the end of 1790 and a further 67 in 1791.

The death of Henry Edward Dodd, 28.1.1791, approximately one year after the first burial in the cemetery, has given Parramatta two important firsts. Dodd was Superintendent of convicts employed in cultivation at Rose Hill and his was the first public funeral in the colony. His headstone is the earliest in situ in Australia. It was an indication of the esteem in which Henry Dodd was held that when the colony was facing famine, a headstone was provided. It simply inscribed, H. E. Dodd 1791.

A Government Order dated Saturday 11 May 1811 stated:

". . . It being a sacred Duty incumbent on All, to guard and protect the Remains of their deceased Friends from every unnecessary Exposure, it hence becomes necessary that the several Consecrated Burial Grounds should be speedily inclosed in a decent manner."

The inhabitants of Parramatta began an Enclosure Fund in accordance with the government order. The resulting ditch and fence cost £82-4-7, a large sum of money in 1811, and indicating that it must have been a very substantial barrier as convict labour was fairly readily available. However, by the early 1820's the bank and ditch enclosure had fallen into decay and Governor Brisbane gave instructions for the brick wall, which still stands, to be built around the site.

Unfortunately, no records survive that detail any aspect of the construction of the wall; tile brickmaker, builder, and cost are all unknown. The bricks are, however, the typical apricot colour and similar in texture to other bricks known to have been made in Parramatta. Many of the bricks in the wall have impressed arrowhead marks. John Clew's bricks, distinguished by his elongated heart frog mark and by their speckled markings due to impurities in the clay, were subsequently used to repair the walls. He had a particular affinity for the cemetery and its wall and when dying, requested he be buried "as close to his beloved brick wall as possible", His grave is alongside the northern boundary.

From the earliest years to late Victorian times the cemetery has seen a huge variety of funerals from the poorest to the most showy and elaborate. Both local and Sydney papers prove a valuable source of information for funeral services and customs of the times. The funeral of D'Arcy Wentworth Esquire took from one o'clock until four o'clock to wend its way from Homebush to the graveside. The Reverend Samuel Marsden was buried "in his own churchyard at Parramatta and upwards of sixty carriages formed the mourning procession.”

In the 1930's the cemetery records were destroyed by fire. Many early Australian church records no longer exist due to flood, fire, vermin or human neglect such as illustrated by the well known entry in a clergyman's wife's diary:

"The following day being wet, I put the girls to the task of cutting up the old church records as I have found the paper more suitable for the use of curling paper for the girls hair. "