The first burial at Haslem’s Creek Cemetery, which was eventually to become Rookwood Cemetery, was reported to have taken place in 1867, when John Whalan, an 18 year old pauper Irishman, was buried there on the 5th January 1867.
In the early colony the cemetery became an import social barometer, a way of establishing a social registry. A large, possibly ostentatious funeral, large grave memorial and inscriptions were considered as trappings of success and wealth. Many families staged burials far beyond their financial means for fear of criticism.
To die a pauper, dependent on the colony for burial was considered a terrible slur on the family let alone the departed. Pauper’s funeral typically used a plain pine coffin, sometimes roughly marked with a cross to distinguish whether the departed was a Roman Catholic or Protestant. Pauper graves were also situated in the least .
Excerpt from: Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser ( NSW: 1843 -1893) / 10 Jan 1867)
"THE FIRST INTERMENT AT THE NEW CEMETERY
– The first interment at the new cemetery at Haslem’s Creek, took place on Saturday Morning (5th Jan), the body buried being that of a young man, eighteen years of age, named John Whelan, who died at the Infirmary on Wednesday (2nd Jan) evening last, from consumption. There seems to have been gross negligence somewhere as no provision for the digging of graves or the burial of bodies has as yet been made. The body of the unfortunate young man lay in the deadhouse of the Infirmary until it became necessary for the police authorities to interfere and compel its removal... The high fees charged by other cemeteries precluding the burial of paupers anywhere except at Haslem’s Creek.
Several messages were sent backwards and forwards to various parties, but still no definite arrangement for the interment of the body was made, until the police authorities stepped forward and gave instructions to Mr. Curtis, the undertaker, to remove the body on Saturday morning. The body was accordingly taken to the railway station, where it was placed in the railway hearse and conveyed to the new cemetery; but when it arrived there, there was no grave ready in which to lay it, and no one to dig the grave, and services of two of the “unemployed,” who are clearing the land, were secured by the funeral conductor, and a grave of no very great depth was opened; the corpse was deposited in it, and the earth thrown over it, but no clergyman was there present to the burial service, and thus the first interment in the new cemetery took place, without a prayer being said over the grave of the departed - M. Herald, Jan 7."
Read lessThe first burial at Haslem’s Creek Cemetery, which was eventually to become Rookwood Cemetery, was reported to have taken place in 1867, when John Whalan, an 18 year old pauper Irishman, was buried there on the 5th January 1867.
In the early colony the cemetery became an import social barometer, a way of establishing a social registry. A large, possibly ostentatious funeral, large grave memorial and inscriptions were considered as trappings of success and wealth. Many families staged burials far beyond their financial means for fear of criticism.
To die a pauper, dependent on the colony for burial was considered a terrible slur on the family let alone the departed. Pauper’s funeral typically used a plain pine coffin, sometimes roughly marked with a cross to distinguish whether the departed was a Roman Catholic or Protestant. Pauper graves were also situated in the least .
Excerpt from: Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser ( NSW: 1843 -1893) / 10 Jan 1867)
"THE FIRST INTERMENT AT THE NEW CEMETERY
– The first interment at the new cemetery at Haslem’s Creek, took place on Saturday Morning (5th Jan), the body buried being that of a young man, eighteen years of age, named John Whelan, who died at the Infirmary on Wednesday (2nd Jan) evening last, from consumption. There seems to have been gross negligence somewhere as no provision for the digging of graves or the burial of bodies has as yet been... More
