The Old Sydney Burial Ground

Recent archaeological investigations associated with the Sydney Town Hall upgrade have uncovered evidence of the Old Sydney Burial Ground that was formerly on the site. The cemetery was in use from 1792 to 1820, but was exhumed in 1869 to make way for the Sydney Town Hall.

A Public Open Day was held on Tuesday 22 January 2008 so members of the public could view the excavation site.

An inventory of names of the 2266 people buried in the cemetery between September 1792 and September 1820 has been compiled by the council from historical sources and can be downloaded here.

An archaeological excavation beneath the Sydney Town Hall commenced on Monday 7 January 2008, as the first stage of a five-year rescue plan for the historic building. The excavation, which has been approved by the NSW Heritage Council, will create space for an essential plant and equipment room to house services required for the building to meet modern fire safety standards. A Public Open Day was held on Tuesday 22 January 2008 so that members of the public could view the excavation site and meet the archaeologists.

The City of Sydney appointed archaeologists Dr Mary Casey and Tony Lowe of Casey & Lowe Pty Ltd to direct the excavation works, in line with Heritage Council guidelines.

Preliminary archaeological investigations indicated that there were remnants of a number of graves in the basement area belonging to the Old Sydney Burial Ground. Graves in the area were largely exhumed in the 1880s when the Peace and Centennial Halls were built.

The archaeological excavation recorded the remnants of those graves that were missed. Of the 53 grave sites identified 12 were found to contain bone fragments during preliminary investigations.

The archaeological excavation covered about half of the area of the Peace Hall.

A Brief History of the Burial Ground

By 1793 the principal burial ground for the colony was on the site where the Sydney Town Hall now stands, on the corner of George and Druitt streets. This cemetery is commonly called the Old Sydney Burial Ground, but it is also known as the George Street Burial Ground, the Cathedral Close Cemetery, and (retrospectively) the Town Hall Cemetery.

There is little formal documentation of the cemetery in the historical record. David Collins recorded in his journal in September 1792 that the site was chosen by Governor Phillip and the Rev. Richard Johnson. In accordance with the latest philosophies on the disposal of the dead, the burial ground was located on the outskirts the town; that way it would not affect the health of the living and could remain a place of quiet seclusion.

In 1812 Governor Macquarie authorised the extension the burial ground to the north and west, and also granted a site for a new church (St Andrews) in George Street, beside the cemetery. With the extension, the burial ground covered just over 2 acres.

The Old Burial Ground served the Sydney populace for 27 years. Its management was ad hoc. It was not formally gazetted as a burial ground, no trustees were appointed while the cemetery was active and it was apparently not consecrated. The Church of England clergy officiated at funerals, but according to the Rev. William Cowper, the dead of all communions were interred indiscriminately ("General Cemetery Bill Select Committee Report", 1845).

No formal cemetery register or plan of the burials was kept. The parish register of St Phillips recorded many of the burials, but in between clergy appointments it was poorly maintained. The Rev. William Cowper later estimated (in 1845) that there were about 2000 burials in the old burial ground. As Keith Johnson has shown, this was a conservative figure ("Sydneys Early Burial Grounds - Part 2"). The inadequacies of parish records were not addressed until 1856, when official civil registration of deaths was introduced.

The cemetery buried both the convict and free population. There were no apparent denominational divisions, but some social distinctions were maintained in the spatial organisation of the cemetery. Early Sydney residents recalled that the military were buried in certain parts of the cemetery.

The corner close to Kent Street hosted graves of the non-commissioned officers of the 46th and 48th Regiment. Over in the south-west corner near the Presbyterian Church, soldiers of the 73rd Regiment were buried. And in the ground fronting George Street, near Druitt Street, were buried some non-commissioned officers of the NSW Corps (Old Chum; Brimingham & Liston).

By 1820 the cemetery was full, and its clay soil and poor burial practices rendered it offensive to the inhabitants of the neighbourhood ("Government Gazette", 22 January 1820). The governor declared the cemetery closed and a new burial ground was set aside on Brickfield Hill - the Devonshire Street cemeteries. Some vaults and graves were opened and the corpses and sepulchre deposited in the new burial ground (now the site of Central Station).

Once closed, the cemetery was neglected. By 1837 many of the headstones had been vandalised. The cemetery became a resort for bad characters at night and stray animals during the day. Pigs, goats and horses wandered amongst the graves, many of which lay open exposing brick vaults and timber coffins. Stones were broken, defaced and trodden over.

Effluvia arising from the old burial ground became unbearable in hot weather. Many blamed clandestine burials and grave robbers opening graves to steal leaden coffins. But there were other explanations for the offensive smells. It was reported men utilised the Old Burial Ground to answer the call of nature with a most revolting and disgusting disregard of decency. ("General Cemetery Bill Select Committee Report", 1845; "Burial Grounds Sydney", 1863; St Andrews Cathedral Close Bill Select Committee Report", 1867; "Sydneys Early Burial Grounds - Part 2")

A site for a town hall

Given the lack of public interest in maintaining the cemetery, it is not surprising that the city council thought they could make better use of the site. The council had been formed in 1842 and soon began casting around for eligible town hall sites. The Old Burial Ground soon caught their attention. The site was next to the George Street markets, not far from the Hay Market and a stones throw from the Corporation Wharf. The city was spreading south, and the burial ground was right in the centre of trade. It was perfect.

Difficulties arose as to the legality of the colonial government granting this site and there was some community opposition to disturbing the graves. The Government offered various other sites to the Council; George Street Markets, the Police Office, the old Government House site, even Hyde Park, were floated as potential sites. While deputations and petitions negotiated to secure the perfect site, for over thirty years the Council met in various pubs and buildings around town.

In 1865 the Council once again applied for a grant of a portion of the Old Burial Ground. This time the colonial government acquiesced. Part of the land that once formed the cemetery was formally transferred to the city council in 1869 for the construction of the Sydney Town Hall.

The Act of Parliament which authorised the land transfer (32 Vic. No.4, 1869) required the council to spend at least �25,000 on its building, which had to be completed by 1 January 1872. The grounds were to be laid out according to the recommendations of the Director of the Botanic Gardens, the enclosing walls had to satisfy the Colonial Architect, and any remains of corpses located had to be removed and re-interred as directed by the Minister for Lands. Failure to meet any of the standards or deadlines set out in the Act incurred severe financial penalties.

Robert Stewart, MLA, an established undertaker in nearby Bathurst Street, was given the difficult task of exhuming the remains from the old burial ground. Few could remember who was buried there - or where. It appears no plans or registers of the cemetery were kept and few headstones remained to guide the undertaker.

Little is known about the actual exhumation process; there is no formal report recorded in the Council Minutes or surviving in the council archives. Research to date suggests that exhumations began in April 1869 and were completed by September.

One report in "The Empire"(25 June 1869) stated that small test pits were sunk into different parts of the ground to ascertain the extent and state of preservation of remains. These excavations found little remaining in graves, but some coffins and skeletal remains in brick vaults. Headstone fragments were apparently ignored.

The remains which could be found were removed to a set of graves specially set apart in the Church of England cemetery at the new Necropolis, Haslems Creek (a.k.a. Rookwood Necropolis). Only one legible headstone remained standing, commemorating Captain Hamilton, and this was removed by relatives to the Necropolis as well.

As a mark of respect, Council commissioned stonemason Francis Murphy to create a large classical monument to identify the graves at Rookwood. The inscription records the name of the Mayor but due to gaps in the historical record does not list any names of those buried in the old cemetery.

Archaeological discoveries

The basic manner in which the exhumation was done was soon apparent. Stewart, the undertaker, appears to have followed the City Engineers advice to only clear the buildings footprint. The Deanery of St Andrews was built on part of the Old Sydney Burial Ground and coffins were unearthed during its construction in 1871-2. Coffins and a headstone to Darby Carbery were uncovered in 1888 when the main hall of the Sydney Town Hall was being completed, and in the 1890s water main excavations uncovered skulls.

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The pattern of discoveries continued in the 20th century. In 1904 and 1924 when electric light cables were being laid, coffins and tombs were discovered.

Tombstones and ironbark coffins were found by workmen in 1929 during the open-cut excavations for Town Hall Station. In 1974 vaults were uncovered during the excavation and formation of Sydney Square.

Drainage works under the Town Hall in 1991 brought to light another 7 graves, some with skeletal remains. Part of a headstone inscribed to Elizabeth Steel was also recovered.

More recently in 2003, graves were discovered to the north of the Town Hall during building works for a new forecourt area.

And then in September 2007, with new building works about to commence, evidence of grave sites were again uncovered beneath the Lower Town Hall (Peace Hall). Initial site-specific archaeological investigations point to the remnants of at least 50 simple graves; no headstone fragments, coffin fragments or brick vaults have been uncovered.

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A report was prepared for the NSW Heritage Council before any further work was undertaken. The NSW Heritage Council approved a permit to allow the removal of the remains.

These archaeological discoveries help to build up a picture of the burial customs practised at the start of settlement. Contrary to expectations, it seems a number of the graves were marked by stone memorials. Furthermore, a large proportion of burials appear to have occurred in timber coffins rather than simple shrouds; again this is contrary to expectations of common burial practices in the fledgling colony. Evidence of brick-lined vaults and cedar coffins with brass studs confirm that elaborate funerary practices were current in the new colony, suggesting that British burial practices and customs were rapidly transmitted and adopted in Australia.

(Sourced from the City of Sydney website)