History of cemeteries in the Randwick area

St Jude's Cemetery, Avoca and Frances Streets, Randwick

St Jude's Cemetery next to the Anglican Church of Randwick, was established in 1858, the first recorded burial 2 September 1858, before the current church was constructed.

The cemetery itself became the burial ground for the who's who of Randwick and Sydney society more broadly. The first mayor of Randwick and founding father, Simeon Henry Pearce is himself buried here, along with his wife Alice Isabella Pearce. Ann Horden, wife of Anthony Horden, is also remembered here.

Also found at this cemetery, William Busby (1813-1887), who built one of Sydney's earliest supplies of fresh water, Busby's Bore. Judge Alfred Cheeke (1810-1876) of the NSW Supreme Court is a another notable who's gravestone misspells his name.

For indexes and more information on the cemetery visit the local studies section of Bowen Library.

Source: Waugh, Joseph. The Living Among the dead: tales from St Jude's Cemetery Randwick (Randwick, NSW: Randwick and District Historical Society, 2005)

Botany Cemetery, Eastern Suburbs Memorial Park

Land for the Botany Cemetery was gazetted by the New South Wales Government in 1891. The Botany Progress Association was instrumental in lobbying the government to allocate lands for burials at Bomborah Point

In 1901 many of the graves from the old Devonshire Street cemetery were relocated to Botany Cemetery to make way for the Central Railway Station. A dedicated tramline was built to the Botany site, to assist with the relocation of graves.

Many famous personalities are to be found at this cemetery. Queen Emma Timbery of La Perouse (c. 1842-1916). The daredevil race car driver Raymond Patrick Duggan (1918-1950) and underworld femme fatale Tilly Devine (Matilda Mary Parsons 1900-1970).

Printed indexes for burials can be referenced in the local studies collection of Bowen Library.

You can also search online for names of people buried at this location, both cemetery and crematorium on the Eastern Suburbs Memorial Park website.

Source: Zelinka, Sue. Tender Sympathies: A Social History of Botany (Sydney, NSW: Hale and Iremonger, 1991)

Little Bay Coast Hospital Cemetery

The remains of this burial ground date back to as early as 1881. The Coast Hospital, later known as Prince Henry Hospital, started as a quarantine hospital during an outbreak of smallpox in Sydney.

It became an infectious diseases hospital treating leprosy, bubonic plague, influenza, tuberculosis and other infectious conditions.

The cemetery also contains the graves of Chinese and Aboriginal people who either passed away at the Aboriginal reserve at la Perouse or at the hospital. Hospital staff were also buried at the site.

A published index of burials at the Little Bay cemetery 1881-1952 is available in the local studies collection, Bowen Library.

Further historical information about the cemetery and hospital is available at the Prince Henry Nursing and Medical Museum website.

Sources: Waugh, Joseph. Deaths at the Coast Hospital and Burials at Little Bay 1881-1952 (Randwick, NSW: Randwick and District Historical Society, 1999)
Broughton, C.R. A Coast Chronicle: The History of the Prince Henry Hospital 1881-1981

Randwick General Cemetery

Randwick General Cemetery was dedicated in 1873 for burials of all denominations, after a local dispute saw land dedicated in the heart of Randwick for a general cemetery, earmarked for Anglican burials only, at the instigation of Simeon Pearce, first Mayor of Randwick and devout protestant.

This land encompassed what we now know as St Jude's Cemetery and Alison Park, that portion reverted to parkland in 1864.

The first burial at Randwick General Cemetery occurred 10 September 1874.

The cemetery is situated at the junction of Arden Street and Malabar Road, formerly Long Bay Road. The cemetery was originally known as Long Bay Cemetery after the road. The road was renamed after the sinking of the MV Malabar in 1931.

Many famous locals are buried here including Henry Wylie, who built Wylie's Baths at Coogee, and Sir John See, a shipping magnate who was both Mayor of Randwick and Premier of New South Wales, and who built 'Urara' in Milford Street Randwick.

A map of the different sections of the cemetery and an index to extant headstones 1874-1983 is available in the local studies collection at Bowen Library.