St Patrick’s Catholic Cemetery occupies about 2.35 hectares of land situated at the junction of Church Street and Pennant Hills Road, North Parramatta. In the early years of European settlement before the establishment of dedicated grounds, burials in the colony usually took place near to the place of death of the individual.
Town Map of Parramatta, Parish of St John and Field of Mars County of Cumberland 4th Edn 1961 showing the location of St Patrick’s Catholic Cemetery at the junction of Church Street and Pennant Hills Road. NSW Land Records Services https://hlrv.nswlrs.com.au/
Governor Lachlan Macquarie arrived in the colony in 1810 and wished to impose order and civility on the fledgling settlement. In May 1811 he issued a general order that burials were to take place “in a decent and becoming manner…in the consecrated grounds now assigned for that purpose rather than on settler’s farms as was common practice [1]. The burial grounds in the townships of Liverpool, Windsor, Richmond, Pitt Town, Castlereagh and Wilberforce had been recently marked out and consecrated by the principal chaplain of the colony.
In the Parramatta district, the dedicated burial ground now known as St John’s had been established by 1790 and is the oldest surviving European cemetery in Australia [2]. It is a reasonable assumption that people of any religious faith were interred in this cemetery prior to the establishment of denominational burial grounds such as St Patrick’s.
In 1820, two Catholic chaplains, Fathers John Joseph Therry and Philip Connolly appointed by the Colonial Office in London, arrived in the colony marking the formal establishment of the Catholic Church in Australia [3].
In the early 1820s the previously established cemetery at Parramatta was dedicated as a Church of England burial ground [4]. Fr Therry, a man of energy and action saw the need to make alternative arrangements for the burial of those of the Catholic faith.
The Australian newspaper of the 16 June 1825 published a notice outlining “The intention of the Roman Catholic Chaplain, to procure places of burial separate from those of the other Establishment”, that is cemeteries that were set apart from those of the official church of the colony – the Church of England [5].
The governor of NSW at that time, Ralph Darling described Therry as “troublesome and dangerous” and removed him from the position of official Catholic Chaplain. Therry continued in his work to support and further the interests of the growing Catholic population of the colony [6].
By the time of the 1828 census the total European population of the colony amounted to 36,598 person of whom had identified as 25,248 Protestants and 11,236 as Catholics [7].
Documentary evidence detailing the processes leading to the allocation of the land for the Catholic burial ground in Parramatta is lacking but the cemetery was certainly in use by 1824 when three individuals were interred. Thomas Nugent in April, Philip Reilly in June and Thomas McKenna in August of that year [8].
Monuments in the St. Patrick’s Catholic Cemetery, Parramatta 2018. (Source: Caroline Finlay, City of Parramatta)
The Catholic Cemetery in Parramatta continued to be in use from 1824, however, it was not until June 1834 that the Assistant Surveyor Felton Mathew was directed to survey and mark out the ground. In his letter to the Surveyor General Major Thomas Mitchell, Mathew remarked that the plot of ground selected was a valuable one and that John Oxley would prefer the land to be retained by the government and another portion be granted to the Catholics in its place [9]
In a further letter to Mitchell in September that year, Mathew reported that “the portion of ground used for this purpose have (sic) been completely fenced since my former letter on this subject, I have measured it accordingly [10]. The land had presumably been fenced by members of the Catholic faith to demonstrate their claim on the site.
The foundation stone of the sandstone Mortuary Chapel within the grounds of the cemetery was laid on 20 August 1844. The chapel was dedicated to St Francis of Assisi [11]. The Rev Dean Nicholas Joseph Coffey who was responsible for the building of the chapel was buried in the chapel in 1857. The focal point of an avenue of Cypress trees leading from a set of iron gates facing Church Street.
The land for the cemetery had been approved by successive governors but was not officially granted until 31 March 1846. Governor George Gipps signed a grant document on this date which included the site of the chapel amounting to a little over 1 acres of land whereas the cemetery as a whole occupied over 5 acres. The site was measured again later the same year and a new grant issued for the whole area on 12 June 1846 [12].
The number of burials declined in the years towards the middle of the 20th century. The Parish of Parramatta negotiated with Parramatta City Council to take over the trusteeship of the cemetery due to the rising costs of maintaining the cemetery as well as the increasing problem of damage by vandalism. Parramatta Council was not prepared to take over until the cemetery was closed to burials, which took effect in 1971. Then after some negotiations, the cemetery was transferred to Parramatta City Council on 22 May 1975, pursuant to the NSW Conversion of Cemeteries Act 1974 [13].
Restoration work was commenced in 1987 by Parramatta City Council and in 1995 a Conservation Plan was prepared by Suters Architects Snell Pty Ltd. Records show that a total of 2,155 burials were made between 1824 and 1971, however only 400 marked graves remained in 1979 recording the locations of 800 people [14].
Saint Patrick's Catholic Cemetery on the corner of Church St. and Pennant Hills Rd., view looking towards the entrance gates, c. 1980s. (Local Studies Photographic Collection LSP00081)
St Patrick’s Cathedral was completed in 1837 and burials in St Patrick’s Cemetery were recorded in the parish register from 1839/40 with the oldest entries being John Jones in 1839 and Catherine Fenton in 1840 [15]. Parramatta Heritage Centre holds a copy of this register on microfilm from 1840-1888.
The City of Parramatta continues to fulfil its role in the management and conservation of this important part of the history of the city.
Cathy McHardy, Research Assistant, Parramatta Heritage Centre, City of Parramatta, 2021
References
[1] HRNSW. Vol 7, p. 530, 531
[2] Dunn, J. The Parramatta Cemeteries: St John’s. Parramatta and District Historical Society, 1991, p. 15.
[3] Catholics in Australia. Retrieved on 19/04/2021 from https://www.catholicaustralia.com.au/church-in-australia/history
[4] Catholic Church, St Patrick’s Cemetery, Parramatta: Cradle of faith, grave of the faithful. Parish of St Patrick’s Parramatta, 1994, p. 1.
[5] Advertising. (16/06/1825).The Australian, p. 1 Advertising Retrieved on 19/04/2021 from https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/37074850
[6] Catholic Church, St Patrick’s Cemetery, Parramatta: Cradle of faith, grave of the faithful. Parish of St Patrick’s Parramatta, 1994, p. 2.
[7] Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney. Retrieved 26/04/2021 from https://www.sydneycatholic.org/about-us/history-of-our-archdiocese/from-the-first-fleet-to-the-21st-century/
[8] Dunn, J. The Parramatta Cemeteries: St Patrick’s. Parramatta and District Historical Society, 1988, p. 10.
[9] Catholic Church, St Patrick’s Cemetery, Parramatta: Cradle of faith, grave of the faithful (1. Parish of St Patrick’s Parramatta, 1994, p. 2.
[10] Catholic Church, St Patrick’s Cemetery, Parramatta: Cradle of faith, grave of the faithful. Parish of St Patrick’s Parramatta, 1994, p. 3.
[11] New Mortuary Chapel. (28/08/1844). Morning Chronicle, p. 2. Retrieved 26/04/2021 from https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/31743450
[12] Suters Architects Snell Pty Ltd. St Patrick’s cemetery: conservation plan (1995), p. 13.
[13] Suters Architects Snell Pty Ltd. St Patrick’s cemetery: conservation plan (1995), p. 14.
[14] Suters Architects Snell Pty Ltd. St Patrick’s cemetery: conservation plan (1995), p. 15.
[15] Dunn, J. The Parramatta Cemeteries: St Patrick’s. Parramatta and District Historical Society, 1988, p. 11.
No one in the family has ben able to find her burial place. It may be somewhere near my grandfather (her son) Francis Ernest Ardill, 1967, which is clearly marked.
Do you know where I can find the burial records for those last few years of the Cemetery?
Thank you so much.
Sincerely
Lynne (nee Ardill)