God's Little Acre

The small cemetery at the St Mary The Virgin Anglican Church at Denham Court, regularly referred to as God's Little Acre, dates back to the 1830s. The first interments were Richard and Christiana Brooks and were made several years before the graveyard existed. The chapel was erected over their graves in a vault under the sanctuary. Determining what burials occurred soon after becomes complicated as some burials were recorded by other parishes. The records of St Luke's at Liverpool show that a William Roberts was buried there in 1837. This appears to be the burial that follows the Brooks burials. Another early burial from the St Luke's Register is that of baby William Hush aged 7 weeks and buried in 1838. The first burial at St Mary's recorded in the Church's own burial register was that of a free settler, Mary Goodall. She was aged 75 and buried on 2nd April, 1845. She was buried only a couple of days after the cemetery was consecrated by Bishop Broughton on his way home from the Maneroo.

There appears to be confusion over the oldest monument in the cemetery. The State Heritage Inventory lists the oldest monument as George Cesley's in 1837, however other sources claim that Joseph Giles' monument dating to 1848 is the oldest. I'm planning another visit to the cemetery shortly, so I will give an update of my findings on this blog!

Pictured above is an early grave with a headstone for Mary Maxwell Atkinson who died in 1860 (Campbelltown and Airds Historical Society)

The original burial register contains 258 registrations, however research indicates that this is well short of the actual burials in the cemetery. This was probably because there were a large number of burials carried out when the cemetery didn't have a permanent clergyman. Some of the missing names may have been recorded in another parish.

Some years ago I was approached by the family of a well known Ingleburn identity named "Digger" Black. He passed away in the 1950s and was buried in the cemetery, but the location of his grave has been lost. Although a reasonably recent burial, the site of "Digger's" grave was not recorded, leading to much frustration and heartbreak for his family.

Another mystery is that of a child's grave surrounded by an iron fence with the initials "W.C.F." inscribed on a small headstone. Mysteriously, the cemetery or church records have no details of a person matching those initials. There is a person who once regularly put flowers on this grave and it is not known if they did it through kindness or if they knew the person.

During the 1930s a young girl and a State ward died and was bound for a pauper's grave. She was saved from this fate by a generous and caring family named Gavin who allowed her to be interred in a section of their family plot.

As well as local pioneers, the cemetery contains the remains of notable people such as "Gentleman" Jack Crawford, one of Australia's greatest tennis players. He is buried with his wife, the former Marjorie Cox, who also played tennis at a high level.

A visit to this little place of serenity is highly recommended. There are many various monument types and styles, with each telling a story in some way of that person's life.

St Mary the Virgin Church with some of the headstones from the cemetery in the foreground (Trevor Richardson Collection).

Written by Andrew Allen

Sources:

The Anglican Parish of Denham Court and Rossmore Commemorative Booklet of St Mary the Virgin Denham Court with an overview of the Parish 1977

LIDDIARD, A 1993

The Story of St Mary the Virgin Anglican Church, Denham Court NSW

Historic Loo

It's not often that a toilet block is honoured with a permanent conservation order. In February 1982 this rare event occurred when a disused four-seater lavatory at Denham Court was recognised for its heritage significance. The "four seater" model outhouse, hidden for decades by a bougainvillea, was believed to have been built in the early days of Queen Victoria's reign, when Denham Court homestead was converted to become the Miss Lester's Seminary for Ladies. The two-room timber construction is about six by three metres and each room has a bench with two holes suspended over a deep pit. It was believed to have been built between 20-30 years after the homestead and, as it seemed to big to belong to the house, must have been associated with the school. The design suggested it could have been a demountable structure to be moved to another location if the occasion arose.

The four seater "dunny" at the Denham Court property pictured in 1994 (Photo by Alex Goodsell, Campbelltown and Airds Historical Society)

The Heritage Council originally planned to put the order on the entire Denham Court property but the owner protested saying that only the house and the lavatory justified preservation. It was decided that all the other outhouses were not of historical interest.

Written by Andrew Allen

Sources:

Campbelltown-Ingleburn News, February 16 1982

[Denham Court] by [Ruth Banfield]

Sydney Morning Herald, February 10 1982

Jack Crawford

Jack Crawford was a famous Australian tennis player from the 1930s. He is perhaps remembered best for almost winning the grand slam in 1933. He lost the US Open, the last slam for the year, after tiring in his match against Englishman Fred Perry, which he led by two sets to one. He was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1979 and the Australian Tennis Hall of Fame in 1997. Jack was known to have taken a shot of whiskey between sets if the game was tense. He was Queen Mary's favourite player.

 

Jack Crawford rolling his sleeves down in a match because of the cold (State Library of NSW)

Jack Crawford had connections to Ingleburn. His wife Marjorie Cox, also a tennis player and a State representative, came from Ingleburn. After his heroics in 1933, Jack and Marjorie returned to Australia and, needing time for relaxation after an exhausting schedule, spent some time at Ingleburn with her parents to recover. In early November the following year, Jack played in an exhibition match at the newly opened Ingleburn tennis courts in Memorial Park.

Jack Crawford died on 10 September 1991 and is buried with Marjorie at Denham Court Cemetery.

 

Jack and Marjorie's grave in Denham Court Cemetery

 

 

Written by Andrew Allen

Sources: KERR, David

               Old Ingleburn

               In Grist Mills: Journal of the Campbelltown and Airds Historical Society

               Vol. 21, No. 1, March 2008

 

Wikipedia

 

Destroyed by Fire

With the sad news this week of fire destroying much of the iconic General Gordon Hotel at Sydenham, I was thinking about buildings in Campbelltown destroyed by fire over the years. While most buildings that have vanished fell victim to the bulldozer, a small percentage were burnt down. I've researched four such buildings.

Denham Court Rectory

This impressive two story building was built in 1847. It was described as a "beautiful old English Parsonage". It was closed as a rectory in 1882 upon the retirement of the Rev. George Napoleon Woodd, who had been the incumbent for 26 years. The building then became Miss Gordon's Boarding School for Girls. The school later closed and the building was leased out.

Severe bushfires broke out in early September 1895 as a result of hot and dry winds. On Saturday, 7 September the occupant of the parsonage decided to bake scones. The wooden shingles of the roof caught alight and in the hot, dry conditions the fire could not be extinguished and the parsonage was gutted.

A second rectory was built in 1922 utilizing the lower story of the original rectory. A private residence now occupies the site after the second rectory was demolished in the 1960s. Bricks from the second rectory were used in the house's construction.

Denham Court Rectory after it was gutted by fire in 1895 (Denham Court Collection, Campbelltown City Library)

Glen Lorne

At 11pm on the Thursday night of 9 July 1981, Campbelltown Fire Brigade was called to a fire on Appin Road. This was the empty and derelict house known as "Glen Lorne" that dated back to 1823. The timber house had been empty for fifteen years and was owned by Lady Dorothy Macarthur-Onslow. It was built on land granted to George Woodhouse in 1823. It was purchased by an architect named G A Mansfield in 1876 and then followed a succession of owners. The house was long admired by Campbelltown residents and a landmark on Appin Road for many years. No official cause was given for the fire, although vandals were suspected.

Glen Lorne pictured around 1981, shortly before the fire (Turner Collection, Campbelltown City Library)

Glen Alpine

What was it about fire-destroyed houses that started with Glen! Glen Alpine was the home of Campbelltown's first clergyman Rev. Thomas Reddall and dated back to the 1820s. Glen Alpine House was built on land south of Campbelltown in today's suburb of the same name. It was a brick and stone house, probably single storey, with a verandah and French doors opening to the garden.

After Rev. Reddall's death in 1838, three of his daughters lived in the house until the last daughter Amelia died in 1900. The house and surrounding 375 acres of land was sold in 1902 to James Sheil.

According to local tradition, the house was burnt down around the turn of the century. Local severe grass fires in 1902-1904 were thought to have been the culprit.

The site today is in Heritage Park, a reserve in Glen Alpine suburb.

 

Members of the Reddall family standing in front of Glen Alpine; with an inset photograph of two unidentified people beside a horsedrawn buggy (Campbelltown and Airds Historical Society)

Hope Inn

The Hope Inn stood opposite the Court House in what is today's Mawson Park. A licence for the inn was granted to Isaac Rudd in 1841. William Rixon had the licence in 1847 and to William Phipps in 1850. The inn burnt down in 1854.

In 1898 The Cumberland Mercury ran an article about Campbelltown. A line from the article reads "old hands say that the stocks, which were part of the punishment inflicted upon the drunken and incorrigible, were erected on the reserve near the old "Hope Inn"."

Written by Andrew Allen

Sources:

HIGGINBOTHAM, Edward
Historical and Archaeological Analysis of Glen Alpine, Campbelltown, N.S.W.

'Historic Home Razed"
In The Crier, 15 July 1981

The Story of St. Mary's The Virgin Anglican Church, Denham Court, N.S.W.