Old Melbourne Cemetery Update

Plan of Old Melbourne Cemetery c1920 Showing Gravestones( Source: Isaac Selby’s “Memorial History of Melbourne” )

Plans to redevelop the Queen Victoria Market have been placed in doubt following Heritage Victoria’s decision not to grant a permit allowing works which included the dismantling, restoration and reconstruction of Sheds A to D at the Market. They determined that the proposed works would be unacceptably detrimental to the cultural heritage of the site. Melbourne City Council had wanted to temporarily remove the sheds, construct a three level basement underneath, and then replace the sheds.

Shed D at the Queen Victoria Market is located over portion of the Old Melbourne Cemetery, namely the Jewish, Quaker and Aboriginal Sections. Bodies were exhumed from the Quaker and Aboriginal Sections in 1877 and reinterred in the Melbourne General Cemetery in Carlton and from the Jewish Section in 1920 and reinterred in the Fawkner Cemetery.

When the Market took over sections of the cemetery in 1877 it had the backing of an Act of Parliament which had been debated as the ‘Melbourne Market Site Bill.’ Francis Longmore, MLA, speaking in the Legislative Assembly on 2 August 1877 stated that the planned acquisitions “embraced the blocks originally set apart for the burial of the aborigines, members of the Society of Friends, and Jews. He believed that in the aborigines’ section only three burials ever took place; there was no grave in the Quaker ‘ section; and in the section allotted to the Jews, there was only one grave – that of a Quaker buried there by mistake.” In fact there were many more burials in these sections and he had almost certainly misread an 1873 plan of these sections which shows the grave of Isaac Stevens correctly buried in the Quaker Section.

Then on 14 August 1877 in the Legislative Council, the Hon. Robert Stirling Hore Anderson, MLC stated “I made every inquiry at the time, and, according to my recollection, the result was that I ascertained that only three persons were buried there, namely, one member of the Society of Friends, who was interred in that particular place by mistake, and two aborigines.” Later in the debate Frederick Thomas Sargood, MLC moved for “the insertion of words providing that the new boundary line of the Old Cemetery should be fenced in by a solid wall of brick or stone not less than 8 feet high.” Further on in the debate the Hon. James Graham, MLC “considered that a strict inquiry ought to be made as to how many graves would have to be removed to make way for the new market.” Mr. Anderson stated “that the late Government made every necessary inquiry on the subject.” Mr. Sargood said “he had laid on the table a plan showing that the portion of the Old Cemetery which would be excised under the Bill contained the bodies of only one white man and two or three aborigines.”

JEWISH SECTION

On 18 December 1844, a Crown grant was issued to Michael Cashmore, Solomon Benjamin, and Asher Hymen Hart, intrust for the interment of the dead, according to the custom of the Jews, though burials in all sections of the cemetery commenced before these Crown grants were made. Most burials in this section were thought to have been made close to the inside of the wall along Peel Street. The bodies of two young children, Lewis Hyam Hart (buried 15 July 1852) and Mary Hart (buried 12 January 1854) the son and daughter of Isaac and Rachel Hart were privately exhumed and reburied in the Melbourne General Cemetery, Carlton in March 1887.

The remaining burials were exhumed in September – October 1920 and reburied in a special Jewish Pioneers Section in the Fawkner Cemetery.

QUAKER SECTION

On the 30th November 1847, a Crown grant was issued to Robert Dunsford, Dr. Godfrey Howitt, Edward Sayce, and John Bakewell, in trust, for the interment of the dead, according to the use of the Society of Friends (Quakers). There was not a large number of Quakers in early Melbourne but exact numbers are hard to calculate as they were listed amongst “Other Protestant Denominations” in census returns. Also, the Victorian Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages does not hold any early parish records for Quakers. The name of only one person who was buried in this section is known, that of Isaac Stevens.

On Monday, 26 November 1877 the remains of Isaac Stevens (who died aged 19 years) were removed from the Quaker Section and reinterred in the Melbourne General Cemetery by Thomas Jennings, Undertaker. Their new location was Quaker Section A, Grave No. 265. No gravestone has survived for this grave, but when the Genealogical Society of Victoria and Australian Institute of Genealogical Studies prepared transcriptions of the gravestones in 1989 a broken gravestone with the top missing was in situ with the following inscription remaining ” … son of Joseph S. Stevens of Liverpool, England, who died 11th of the second month 1853, age 19 years.” English Quaker records show Isaac’s date of birth as 25 December 1833 at Toxteth Park, near Liverpool, Lancashire, England the son of Joseph Stevens, flour dealer, and his wife Agnes. Isaac appears with his family at Park Street, Toxteth Park, near Liverpool in the 1841 and 1851 censuses. He is thought to have arrived in Melbourne alone in December 1852 per “Constance” as an unassisted passenger.

ABORIGINAL SECTION

There does not appear to have been any Crown grant issued for the Aboriginal Section which was located immediately north of the Roman Catholic Section. It may have had its origins in the practice of burying non-Christians and executed criminals immediately outside of consecrated ground.

On 20 January 1842 two aboriginals, Tunnerminnerwait (“Bob”) and Maulboyheenner (“Jack”), were executed in Melbourne followed by three bushrangers (Charles Ellis, Daniel “Yankee Jack” Jepps and Martin Fogarty) on 28 June 1842. Garryowen says they were all buried close to the north-eastern corner of the cemetery, outside the fence. (another aboriginal, known as Figara Alkepurata (“Roger the Russian”) was executed on 5 September 1842.) Later executions were carried out at Melbourne Gaol and their bodies buried there.

On 26 November 1877 two boxes of bones from the Old Melbourne Cemetery were reinterred in public graves in the Melbourne General Cemetery, ‘Other Denominations’ Section E, Grave Nos. 286 and 287 by Thomas Jennings. These were followed on 29 November 1877 by two more boxes and on 1 December 1877 by a further box of bones, all also interred in Section E, Grave No. 287 by Thomas Jennings.

CARETAKER’S LODGE

The construction of a caretaker’s lodge had its origins in a meeting of members of the Church of England interested in the Old Cemetery held on 3 August 1855 in the Bishop’s Registry, Little Collins Street West, Melbourne. The Dean of Melbourne, Hussey Burgh Macartney presided, and the following resolutions were adopted: 1.”That this meeting considers it advisable that the ground allotted for a cemetery for the members of the Church of England, and which is now known as the Old Cemetery, be enclosed by a permanent and substantial fence, and that a residence be erected for a person to take charge of the ground; and that the Bishop of Melbourne, as trustee thereof, be requested to nominate a committee of five persons to carry out the above object, and to appoint a person to act as warden.” The following gentlemen were then appointed as the committee: Messrs. Belcher, Budd, Henning, Martin, and the Rev. Mr. Budd. 2.”That the committee are requested to make some immediate temporary arrangements for the protection of the Church of England portion of the burial ground.” 3.”That this meeting desire to record their opinion that the co-operation of other denominations should be sought by the committee, with a view, if possible, of getting the whole of the burial-ground enclosed in a substantial manner, and placed under one management.”

This was followed in September 1856 by the Public Works Office in Melbourne advertising for tenders for the construction of a Cottage in the Old Cemetery, Melbourne. The next month Thomas Grimwood was named as the successful tenderer at a price of £495. Henry R. Johnstone was probably the first caretaker to occupy the cottage. Other than having the use of the cottage, he initially received no pay for his work which consisted of little more than keeping pigs and cattle out of the cemetery and not allowing any further burials unless the required certificate was produced. He was never instructed to keep any records.Rev. Richard Hale Budd( Source: State Library of Victoria Website )

On 1 March 1861 Richard Hale Budd prepared a report for the Chief Secretary in which he gave the names of the committee members as Rev. Moses Rintel and Messrs. F. Cooper and Budd, however the cemetery was not under the management of a Board, but under the management of the Board of Land and Works. At that time the committee were much dissatisified with Johnstone’s work and wanted the Government to dismiss him and provide a salary for a replacement, but they refused. In the following years there seems to have been a succession of policemen residing in the lodge, including Senior-Constable David Marks and Constable Thomas Summerhayes.

Maurice Blaney Murphy and his family occupied the lodge from 1872 to c1896 followed by Henry Richardson (c1897 to c1911) and finally John Leffers (c1912 to c1919).

CEMETERY RECORDS

Other than making a general invitation to the public to provide information and opinions, the Queen Victoria Market Renewal Management have not been prepared to consult with descendants of early settlers who were buried in the Old Melbourne Cemetery or of any representative organisation such as the Port Phillip Pioneers Group Inc. They have apparently sought to rely on the story that the cemetery records were all destroyed in a fire in 1864 and therefore no-one can be sure they have an ancestor buried there. This apparently did not prevent them from reaching an agreement in November 1996 with the Wurundjeri Council to operate a market stall, though this entitlement was not taken up.

No evidence of a fire having destroyed the cemetery records can be located, but it is accepted that some of the early records have been lost. Exactly what records are missing is uncertain, but they appear to be the cemetery plans showing the exact location of individual graves. Garryowen states that by Order-in-Council (18th April, 1864), Richard Hale Budd of the Model School, Spring Street, Melbourne; Alexander Brock of Preston; John Cosgrave of the Town Hall, Melbourne; Dr. John Phillips of Rathdowne Street, Carlton Gardens; Robert Smith of 23 Flinders Lane West, Melbourne; and Rabbi Moses Rintel of 17 Rathdowne Street, Carlton Gardens were appointed Trustees. This Order seems to have been made ignoring the previous Trustees altogether, and under the assumption that the provisions of the Cemeteries Statute 1864 were applicable. The minutes of the first meetings of these Trustees show that they were uncertain of their legal standing and that they never obtained possession of any earlier records.

There were numerous newspaper reports of unburied and illegally buried bodies being found in the Old Melbourne Cemetery. Many were of infant children. Also, Garryowen said he knew of three instances where bodies had been removed from the cemetery and used for medical purposes.

AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE

With $15 million already spent on planning the redevelopment, Victorian Planning Minister Richard Wynne and Premier Daniel Andrews offered to help Melbourne City Council find an alternative way of redeveloping and strengthening the heritage sheds. However Acting Lord Mayor Arron Wood said that without the underground storage area and car park they could not proceed and though they initially planned to lodge an appeal in the Supreme Court, they later decided against doing this. The matter was further complicated by the by-election for a new Lord Mayor in May 2018 with Arron Wood ruling himself out as a candidate. The result of this election saw Sally Capp elected and the outcome is now in the hands of the Melbourne City Council.

( Contributed by Alexander Romanov-Hughes. PPPG Member No. 52 )