East Perth Cemeteries
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East Perth Cemeteries is a now disused complex of seven independently administered cemeteries in East Perth, Western Australia. It is estimated that as many as 10,000 people were buried there between 1830 and 1919; however, only around 800 gravesites have been identified. A large section of the original site has since been built over, leaving about 5 hectares (12.5 acres) remaining and commonly referred to as the East Perth Cemetery.
The site, which is a short distance from Gloucester Park and the WACA Ground, is bound by Wittenoom, Plain and Bronte Streets and Waterloo Crescent.
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[edit] History
The cemetery site was surveyed by John Septimus Roe on 24 December 1829 soon after the central portions of the Perth townsite had been surveyed. The area was originally known as Cemetery Hill and was established in 1830. The first burial was of Private John Mitchell from the 63rd regiment. Mitchell died on 6 January 1830; the exact location of his grave site is unknown.[1] A public notice from Peter Broun, the Colonial Secretary on 13 February 1830 said:
... to prevent indiscriminate Burials and unpleasant consequences arising therefrom in a warm climate, a Burial Ground will be set apart in Every Township or Parish ... burials will take place in them only and a Register will be kept ... all Burials by the Chaplain will be restricted to times as soon after sunrise as possible, or an hour precisely before sunset ...
(Both Broun and Roe were buried in the cemetery and their tombstones are still visible.)
The Trustees of the Church of England were granted Perth Town Lot R1 as a general cemetery in 1842. The cemetery was consecrated in 1848, and over the following decades sections of this were granted to various other denominations and ethnic groups with each cemetery being owned and controlled separately. The subsequent grants were: Roman Catholic (1848); Wesleyan (1854); Congregational (1854); Hebrew (1867); Presbyterian (1881); and Chinese (1888). Each of the grants were administered independently with the exception of the Chinese section.
In 1899, Karrakatta Cemetery became the main burial ground in close proximity to Perth, and from July that year burials officially ceased at East Perth, except where special applications were made to use family graves. The cemetery was used intermittently from then until the last burial in 1919.
Throughout most of the 1900s, the grounds, which adjoined an industrial area, were subject to vandalism and neglect.[2] Appeals from individuals and the Royal Western Australian Historical Society for it to be refurbished given its historical significance continued over some time. In 1931, The Sunday Times reported:
When a representative of this paper visited the cemetery yesterday he found a skull almost intact, leg and arm bones, and other parts of poor mortal remains. These were lying on the rank green grass close to a bricked hole leading to the vault. From the ground above, the rest of the bones could be plainly seen. When the general public can depend upon viewing the actual remains of a dead person, and when mere children also have sight and access to such, it is time that someone in authority awakened. [The Sunday Times. 24 May 1931, p1]
In the 1930s, the various church authorities relinquished control of the individual grants and the entire site was then re-vested as Crown land and declared a disused burial ground.[3] From the mid-1930s, control and responsibility for the grounds moved between various government departments and numerous projects were undertaken to refurbish the historic site.
Much of the Chinese, Hebrew and Presbyterian cemeteries were originally located west of Plain Street, and an unused Anglican section was located south of Bronte Street. In the late 1940s, these sections were excised and headstones bulldozed and removed with the land west of Bronte Street made available as tennis courts for the nearby Perth Girl's School. Fences separating the individual cemeteries were removed. Those areas have now been redeveloped and have become roadways, carparks and commercial and residential buildings. An access road called Forrest Avenue (previously Cemetery Road) crossed diagonally over the block which now houses the multi-storey Main Roads Department office building. Extensions of Wickham and Horatio Streets have been incorporated into the grounds.
During the late 1980s, a major redevelopment project for the East Perth precinct commenced. Works at the cemetery included landscaping and perimeter fencing to protect the church and the remaining monuments from vandalism.
Considerable areas within the fenced area of the graveyard have no visible signs of graves or markers partly because simple timber crosses and monuments were used in large sections which accommodated burials of the poorer classes. Those timber monuments were largely destroyed through the ravages of time and from vandalism.
[edit] St. Bartholomew's Church
The Anglican St. Bartholomew's Church is the sole building still standing within the grounds. It was built as a mortuary chapel in 1848.[4] In about 1870, an extension designed by colonial architect Richard Roach Jewell was incorporated and the enlarged building was consecrated as a parish church by the first Bishop of Perth, Mathew Blagden Hale on 16 February 1871.
The church was further extended in 1900 with the enlargement of the sanctuary and nave. These extensions were consecrated on 22 March 1900 by Charles Owen Leaver Riley, the third Bishop of Perth.
It became a popular place of worship for many of the wealthier and predominantly Anglican households in the city which typically lived on Adelaide Terrace and overlooked the Swan River. However, attendances declined from about the 1930s when many of Perth and East Perth residents moved to West Perth and other more socially acceptable areas. It was refurbished in 1954 but ceased to function as a parish church in 1963 and for a period operated as a refuge for homeless men from nearby St. Bartholomew's House. In November 2002, the Perth Diocese of the Anglican Church recommenced holding services at the church, these continue to be held on the 1st, 3rd, 5th Saturday of each month.
The Church and the East Perth Cemeteries were entered on the Register of the National Estate in 1978.[5]
[edit] Timeline
- 24 December 1829 — site surveyed by John Septimus Roe
- 6 January 1830 — first recorded burial. That of Private John Mitchell.
- 1848 — first portion of St Bartholomew's built[4]
- 16 February 1871 — St Bartholmew's enlarged. Consecrated as a mortuary chapel by Matthew Hale, the Bishop of Perth[4][6]
- 19 August 1888 — St Bartholomew's consecrated as an Anglican parish church. First service conducted by Dean Goldsmith.[6]
- late October 1889 — A belfry constructed near the church.[6]
- 1899 — Cemeteries closed, but due to public demand, burials in existing vaults or family graves were extended.[4]
- 1900 — St Bartholomew's extended with the addition of a sanctuary and the enlargement of the nave. Extensions consecrated by Charles Owen Leaver Riley on 22 March 1900 [6]
- 1963 — St Bartholomew's ceases to function as a parish church.[6]
- 17 December 1975 — St. Bartholomew's and its driveway vested in the National Trust[4]
- 1976 — St Bartholomew's restored.[6]
- 6 May 1986 — the entire cemeteries site enclosed with a wire-mesh fence to stop the repeated vandalism
- 1994 — National Trust assumes responsibility for the entire site.[4]
- 2002 — Services recommence at St Bartholomew's
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ National Trust -- East Perth Cemeteries heritage information
- ^ Veil. The Perth Cemetery. Description of overgrown, neglected cemetery. West Australian, 31 December 1896, p.9
- ^ East Perth Cemeteries & St. Bartholomew's Chapel. Visitors booklet. National Trust of Australia
- ^ a b c d e f Heritage Council of Western Australia listing
- ^ East Perth Cemeteries at the Australian Heritage Database
- ^ a b c d e f St. Bartholomew's Dead Person's Society, Perth
[edit] External links
[edit] Further reading
- Bodycoat, Ronald. (1992) The East Perth Cemeteries conservation plan: prepared for the National Trust of Australia (WA) Perth, W.A: National Trust of Australia
- Easton, Leonard A., and Shardlow, R.H.(1980) The East Perth cemetery and Saint Bartholomew's Church Perth: National Trust of Australia (W.A.) ISBN 0909259100
- Oldham, Ray, (1988) The old East Perth Cemetery, 1829-1988 in. Early days, Vol.9, pt.6 (1988), p.89-97,
- Richardson, James A. and Davies, David (1986) East Perth Cemetery : resting place of Western Australian pioneers Perth, W.A: Royal Western Australian Historical Society, Based on Surveys 1983-1986 for the Royal Western Australian Historical Society, Inc.".
