Come for a Stroll

I have always held a love of cemeteries. There is something calming about them. I disagree that they are places to avoid and that they are scary, forbidden or melancholy. Instead, I have the opinion that they are havens in a crazy and frantic world. Even in Campbelltown, St Peter's Anglican Cemetery, bound by busy roads, generates a feeling of peace amongst the hustle and bustle of the CBD. Occasionally I will wander up to St Peter's during a lunch break to reflect, clear my mind and soak up that peace it provides.

Working as local studies librarian means I get to perform quite a lot of research and often it leads me to learn about our town's pioneers and to the amazing lives some of them lead. It often feels like you get to know them personally! Irene Scattergood is an example. Many times I have read about the tragic circumstances that lead to her premature death in 1925 and the shock felt by her family and the Campbelltown community. Irene and others whose stories I have stored in my brain are people that I wish I could meet. I wish I could interview them like I do with the living's oral histories and record how they made their journey through life...and death.

This year marks 200 years since the first burial in St Peter's Cemetery, making it almost as old as Campbelltown itself. I hope you can join me next month for a Stroll through St Peter's Cemetery and discover some of the people buried there. You will learn about Australia's first millionaire, a Melbourne Cup winning jockey and the man who saw Fisher's Ghost- a man who is often overlooked when it comes to the Fisher's Ghost legend. And of course I will introduce you to Irene Scattergood and explain her heart breaking story as well as others that left such an indelible mark on our beloved Campbelltown. 

Details of the cemetery tour are as follows:

St Peter's Anglican Cemetery, Howe Street, Campbelltown.

Saturday, 15 April from 10am-1130am. Meet at the main gate. Bookings are essential and are through Eventbrite. Cost is free.

Irene Scattergood's headstone in St Peter's Cemetery

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

Ferrets in the Vault

This wasn't the first time that Campbelltown folk had to deal with ghosts in their town. One night in early December 1929, unexplained lights were seen emanating from St Peters Anglican Cemetery. The newspapers reported that The light was first seen by a local baker, who informed his next-door neighbor. When they came out the front of the shop, however, the light had vanished, only to reappear a few minutes later, and to twinkle for a minute or two, and vanish again. It was thought that tramps had made their home in the cemetery, particularly as it was summer.


Observers could make out that the lights were coming from the vault of the Tyson family. The vault was well known to the population, as James Tyson was regarded as the country's first millionaire. The vault was on the southern side of the cemetery.


It didn't take too long before the mystery was solved. Two boys, one of them a Camden boy by the name of Jimmy Meredith, had come across to do some rabbit hunting, and had lost their ferrets. Some boys had told them they had seen them in the cemetery. This means it was probably a moonlit night, but how could they still know there were ferrets in the cemetery and what were these boys doing hanging around there anyway?

Showing great courage, the boys then braved the perils of the fallen-in vault and retrieved their ferrets. What I found remarkable was that this story was news for many newspapers around the country for this day.

The Tyson vault in St Peters Cemetery in the 1950s (Campbelltown and Airds Historical Society)

Written by Andrew Allen

Source:

Evening News (Rockhampton, QLD), Friday 13 December 1929, page 8

William Lyttle King

William Lyttle King, known as Bill, was born in the Campbelltown area in 1894. He attended Minto Public School where his father was stationmaster at Minto Railway Station. He later went to Sydney Boy's High School and then to Sydney University where he studied Economics and Business. It was clear from early in life that he would be a high academic achiever. William would go on to achieve honours at university.

It was during his study at the University of Sydney, aged 22, that William enlisted for the First World War and joined the Australian Flying Corp. He trained as a pilot and soon became Lieutenant and trained with the 4th Squadron based in England. He soon became involved in action with his squadron in Northern France. Here at a small place called Savy, and after flying for a month over the battlefield, William's plane crashed. It was not shot down by the enemy but crashed due to aircraft failure. He received multiple injuries including a fractured arm, smashed teeth and multiple contrusions when he crashed 300 feet to the ground. William lay severely injured and for several days lay unconscious in a French hospital. He returned to Australia in early 1918 and spent some time in Sydney's Garrison Hospital, trying to regain the proper use of his right arm.

When the war was over, William completed his studies in law and married his true love Annette Cook. She was the daughter of a recent Australian Prime Minister Sir Joseph Cook.

On the night of April 6, 1925 William was staying with his sister Mrs Ryder in Oxley Street in Campbelltown. He spoke to Sam Bursill across the road and then decided to go for a walk before returning to his sister's house.

William's mutilated body was found next morning on the railway line somewhere between Campbelltown and Leumeah. To some it seemed that it was a mystery as to how it happened. Was it an accident? How could such a person with what seemed such a promising future take his own life. To others though, it was obvious that William was suffering mentally as a result of the war. There are reports that he had recently suffered a nervous breakdown. He was only 31.

William Lyttle King was buried in the Presbyterian Cemetery at Campbelltown. His remains and headstone were removed to another part of the cemetery when the Moore Oxley bypass was constructed in the 1980s. William's life was featured in my cemetery tour of the Presbyterian Cemetery last week. In attendance was his great great niece Mackenzie King who supplied much of the information on him.

A tour of the Methodist Congregational Cemetery at Campbelltown will happen this Thursday, May 12 at 11am. Enquiries and bookings can be made on 46454431.

Written by Andrew Allen

Cemetery Walking Tours and Queen Street Display

Check out what the library's planning for the Heritage Festival this year! We will celebrate Campbelltown’s extraordinary past with walking tours of two local cemeteries and revisit historic Queen Street through a photographic display at HJ Daley Library, as part of the 2016 National Trust Heritage Festival, from 16 April to 29 May. 

 

Take a guided walk through St David’s Presbyterian Cemetery on 4 May or the Methodist Congregational Cemetery on 12 May, and be amazed as I recount fascinating facts and quirky stories about Campbelltown’s most famous former citizens. Both tours run from 11am to noon and are free, but bookings are essential on 4645 4436. 

Or re-live the past and take a nostalgic ‘stroll’ down the Queen Street of days gone by, as HJ Daley Library presents the history of Campbelltown’s main street in a photographic display, highlighting businesses from the town’s past. ‘Rediscover Queen Street’ will be on display at HJ Daley Library from 26 April to 26 May.

National Trust Heritage Festival 2014

Step back in time and trace the journey of our early settlers by participating in a tour of our local cemeteries, to be hosted by Campbelltown City Council’s Library Service in celebration of this year’s National Trust Heritage Festival.   

The festival will run from 12 April to 26 May and celebrates the theme, ‘Journeys’.   

Embracing this year’s festival theme, Campbelltown City Library will host a walking tour of  St Peter’s Anglican Cemetery on Wednesday 30 April, and of St John’s Catholic Cemetery on Thursday 8 May. Both tours will be held from 11am to midday and will focus on convicts interred in the cemeteries and their ‘journey’ from their homeland to Campbelltown. Cost is free, but bookings are essential. Participants will meet at the front gate of each cemetery at 11am. 

Accompanying the tours will be a display at HJ Daley Library featuring the lives of the convicts discussed in the tours. The display will also feature Campbelltown library staff that settled in Australia from overseas, highlighting their journey as refugees or migrants. 

For more information, or to book for the tours, phone 4645 4436 or visit campbelltown.nsw.gov.au/whatson 

Visit nationaltrust.org.au for more National Trust Festival events.  

 

 

The graves of convicts James and Elizabeth Ruse in St John's Catholic Cemetery. Both will be featured in the library's cemetery tours.

 

The Presbyterian Cemetery

The Presbyterian Cemetery was originally a gift made to St. David's Presbyterian Church by Alexander McDonald, most likely in the 1830s. The deaths of his two children Jane and William are the earliest deaths shown on a monument in the cemetery. Alexander's own death was in 1847.

There are 177 monuments in the cemetery recording the deaths of about 326 persons. The cemetery has some notable Campbelltown names that rest there. These include:

John Kidd- owner of Blair Athol. He was an MLA for Camden in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Thomas Swann- well known photographer from Wedderburn.

Percy Marlow- member of Campbelltown Council from 1926-56 including mayor for 3 separate terms.

Samuel Bursill- mayor of Campbelltown 1909-1914.

James W. Kershler- mayor of Campbelltown 1930-1937.

In 1987 that portion of the cemetery lying adjacent to Moore Street was resumed to allow for widening of the road to become the Moore-Oxley Bypass. The Department of Main Roads compiled a register of all persons buried in the affected area and contacted those descendants who were able to be located. In March 1987, graves and/or memorial stones were moved to other locations within the cemetery or other cemeteries.

A total of 17 remains were exhumed and reinterred into another section. All but one of the 55 headstones were relocated to another section and they now stand in 4 rows in the north-west corner. These remains were left in their original burial place under the new road.

St. David's Presbyterian Cemetery, Broughton Street, Campbelltown before the widening for the Moore-Oxley Bypass. 1984 (Copyright Verlie Fowler)

Written by Andrew Allen

Sources:

HOLMES, Marie
The Presbyterian Cemetery Campbelltown