Cemeteries in the Blacktown Local Government Area

[size=2][font=Arial]There are a number of cemeteries/burial grounds and lone graves in the Blacktown local government area. Some of these cemeteries are no longer in use. [/font][/size] [size=2][font=Arial]Council operates and maintains:[/font][/size] [ul] [li][size=2][font=Arial]Riverstone Cemetery, Riverstone[/font][/size][/li] [li][size=2][font=Arial]St Bartholomew's, Prospect[/font][/size][/li] [/ul] [size=2][font=Arial]Further information on Council operated cemeteries is available on Council's website: [url=https://www.blacktown.nsw.gov.au/Community/Cemeteries]Blacktown City Council[/url][/font][/size] [hr] [size=2][font=Arial]Other cemeteries/burial grounds in the Blacktown City area include:[/font][/size] [ul] [li][size=2][font=Arial]Clydesdale Burial Ground, Marsden Park[b] (Located on private property. Not accessible to the public).[/b][/font][/size][/li] [li][size=2][font=Arial]St Patrick's Roman Catholic Cemetery, Blacktown[/font][/size][/li] [li][size=2][font=Arial]St Phillip's Cemetery, Marsden Park[/font][/size][/li] [/ul] [hr] [size=2][font=Arial][b]Lone Graves[/b][/font][/size] [ul] [li][size=2][font=Arial]Catherine and John Woods, Huntingwood[/font][/size][/li] [li][size=2][font=Arial]John Morgan, Rooty Hill[/font][/size][/li] [li][size=2][font=Arial]Esma Florence Parsons, Glenwood[/font][/size][/li] [/ul] [size=2][font=Arial][b]Private Cemeteries in Blacktown City:[/b][/font][/size] [ul] [li][size=2][font=Arial]Castlebrook Memorial Park, Rouse Hill[/font][/size][/li] [li][size=2][font=Arial]Pinegrove Memorial Park, Minchinbury[/font][/size][/li] [/ul] [hr]

[center][color=#00369b][size=5][font=Arial][b]Indigenous burial sites[/b][/font][/size][/color][/center] [size=2][font=Arial]Historical accounts and oral stories passed down by the Darug elders, speak of the Blacktown and Eastern Creek areas as being continuously occupied by Darug people for tens of thousands of years. Blacktown City’s area includes the unmarked and unrecorded graves of many generations of Darug ancestors, and we acknowledge their long connection to country.[/font][/size] [hr]

[center][size=5][color=#00369b][font=Arial][b]Riverstone General Cemetery[/b][/font][/color][/size] [left][size=2][font=Arial]In October 1888, local politician Mr A Bowman MLA visited Riverstone and told residents he would use his influence to secure a piece of ground for a local cemetery. [/font][/size][/left] [left][size=2][font=Arial]Land was resumed on 5 March 1892 and the cemetery was dedicated 8 October 1892. The first burial was Mercy Mary Nelson on 29 December 1894, athough no headstone remains. The cemetery was originally divided into 4 sections: Anglican Roman Catholic, Presbyterian and Wesleyan with trustees appointed from each church denomination. [/font][/size][/left] [left][size=2][font=Arial]In the mid-1960s care of Riverstone Cemetery passed from the Church Trustees to Blacktown Municipal Council. It assumed the care, control and management of Riverstone Cemetery on 1 October 1967 in accordance with the Local Government Act which transferred  control of all public cemeteries to councils controlling the particular area.[/font][/size][/left] [left][size=2][font=Arial][url=https://www.blacktown.nsw.gov.au/Community/Cemeteries/Online-Register-of-Burials]BCC online burial search[/url][/font][/size][/left] [hr] [/center]

[center][left][center][left][center][font=Arial][color=#00369b][size=5][b]St Bartholomew's Cemetery, Prospect[/b][/size][/color][/font][/center] [center] [left][size=2][font=Arial]St Bartholomew’s Church and Cemetery is one of the most historical sites in the Blacktown local government area.[/font][/size][/left] [left][size=2][font=Arial]Built in 1841, St Bartholomew’s was the result of the efforts of prominent local resident, William Lawson, who crossed the Blue Mountains with Gregory Blaxland and William Wentworth. His home Veteran Hall was built on a site not far from St Bartholomew’s on land which now forms part of  Prospect Reservoir. Lawson and his descendent are buried at St Bartholomew’s along with many other important local families.[/font][/size][/left] [left][size=2][font=Arial]The first baptisms recorded at St Bartholomew’s were Margaret, Mary and James Goodin on 2 May 1981. Sadly  Goodin family members were also the first burials at the church. Margaret and her elder sister Ann were the first burials on 18 July 1841. Their headstone still stands in St Bartholomew’s cemetery.[/font][/size][/left] [left][size=2][font=Arial]The church served the local Prospect community until it closed on New Years Eve, 1967. On 4 November 1989, fire gutted the church destroying the organ and furniture. In 2000, restoration work began on the church and the following year, Blacktown City Council finalised the purchase of the property from the Anglican Church Property Trust.[/font][/size][/left] [left][size=2][font=Arial]The Friends of St Bartholomew’s, an advisory committee under section 355 of the Local Government Act, was established in 2005. The committee assists council in protecting the integrity and heritage of the Church and Cemetery, provides education programs, assists with fundraising for conservation and development of the site and holds regular working bees involving weeding, simple conservation work on gravesites and washing headstones.[/font][/size][/left] [left][size=2][font=Arial][url=https://www.blacktown.nsw.gov.au/Community/Cemeteries/Online-Register-of-Burials]BCC Burial search[/url][/font][/size][/left] [hr] [/center] [/left] [/center] [/left] [/center]

[center][b][color=#00369b][size=5][font=Arial]Clydesdale Burial Ground, Marsden Park[/font][/size][/color][/b][/center] [size=2][font=Arial]The Clydesdale burial ground is located on the Clydesdale Estate at Marsden Park approximately 250 metres south of the Clydesdale homestead. The establishment date of the burial ground is unknown. The earliest headstone in the small burial ground is John McDermott's and dates from 1850. The burial ground was also associated with the Marist occupation of  Clydesdale.[/font][/size] [size=2][font=Arial]There are few complete graves left in the small burial ground. One of these is James White (pictured).[/font][/size] [hr]  

[center][color=#00369b][size=5][font=Arial][b]St Patrick's Roman Catholic Cemetery, Blacktown[/b][/font][/size][/color][/center] [size=2][font=Arial]St Patrick's cemetery was in the grounds of St Patrick's Church and Primary School, which faced Patrick Street, Blacktown. The land on which St Patrick's Church, Cemetery and school, located at the corner of Alpha and Patrick Street, was donated by Thomas Patrick Fitzsimmons, a major landholder in the area. The church closed in 1974 and the land sold in the early 1980s. A shopping mall was built on the site. When the church and school moved to Allawah Street, Blacktown, the headstones also moved to that site.[/font][/size] [hr]

[center][left][center][color=#00369b][size=5][font=Arial][b]St Phillip's Cemetery,  Marsden Park[/b][/font][/size][/color] [left][size=2][font=Arial]The site of St Philips Cemetery, on the eastern side of Richmond Road at Marsden Park, was originally part of the Clydesdale Estate. Charles Tompson, owner of Clydesdale Estate, sold two acres to the church in 1845 for the building of a church. The church built of brick and stone was built by local labour and was consecrated in 1846. The cemetery was established by 1848  as both  church and cemetery were mentioned in a lease advertisement for the property.[/font][/size][/left] [left][size=2][font=Arial]The church building was severely damaged by flood in 1890 but was repaired and reused. It was closed shortly after 1890 and the congregation moved to Riverstone. By  1912 it was referred to as a few tumbledown pillars and a mass of broken bricks.[/font][/size][/left] [left][size=2][font=Arial]The cemetery predates the Riverstone Cemetery. It contains the graves of early settlers, including the descendants of Colebee (who had received one of the first Aboriginal land grants near the Blacktown Native Institute on Richmond Road) from the Locke Family.[/font][/size][/left] [left][size=2][font=Arial]The cemetery contains 12 registered interments between 1848 and 1872. Four headstones are visible within a timber post and railed fenced area.[/font][/size][/left] [left][size=2][font=Arial]A list of the known burials is available:  [url=http://www.hawkesbury.net.au/church/burials/spbr1848.html]St Philips Burials[/url] [/font][/size][/left] [hr] [/center] [/left] [/center]

[center][b][color=#00369b][size=5][font=Arial] Esma Florence Parsons, Glenwood (Lone Grave)[/font][/size][/color][/b] [left][size=2][font=Arial]Esma Parsons was the daughter George Herbert and Florence Parsons. Her father was a bank manager at Beechworth. Esma undertook some of her education at Miss Hannaford’s Private School at Beechworth and was dux of her form in 1899. [/font][/size][/left] [left][size=2][font=Arial]In 1902, Esma applied to join the staff of the Coast Hospital (later renamed Prince Henry Hospital, Randwick) as a trainee nurse. She was appointed as a temporary nurse at the hospital in October 1903, aged 21.[/font][/size][/left] [left][size=2][font=Arial]Three weeks later, Esma contracted scarlet fever from a patient at the hospital and later pneumonia. She died on 25 October 1903 and was buried at the Coast Hospital Cemetery.[/font][/size][/left] [left][size=2][font=Arial]A second grave, very similar to the grave at the Coast Hospital Cemetery, was built on land that is now part of Valentine Park, Glenwood. [/font][/size][/left] [left][size=2][font=Arial]It is not yet known what Esma’s connection is to the Glenwood area. [/font][/size][/left] [/center] [hr]

[center][color=#00369b][size=5][font=Arial][b]John Morgan, Rooty Hill [/b][/font][/size][/color][/center] [center][color=#00369b][size=5][font=Arial][b](Lone Grave) [/b][/font][/size][/color][/center] [size=2][font=Arial]The grave of John Morgan, who died on 14 October 1893 is located within the grounds of the former Baptist Pioneer Memorial Church, Rooty Hill. The church closed about 1913. It was later acquired by the Presbyterian community and reopened on 10 January 1925. The church is now known as Hope at the Hill Presbyterian Church.[/font][/size] [hr]

[center][b][color=#00369b][size=5][font=Arial]John and Catherine Woods, Huntingwood[/font][/size][/color][/b][/center] [center][b][color=#00369b][size=5][font=Arial](Lone Grave)[/font][/size][/color][/b][/center] [left][font=Arial][size=2]The Woods family first settled in the area in the early 1800. They lived on an orchard in the area later known as Dog Kennel Road Prospect. Both were buried on the property. In early 1973, during preparations to build the M4 motorway, the grave was moved north of its original position. In 1974, when the Huntingwood industrial estate was being established, the grave was again relocated and is now located in the garden of Colan Products, Woods Close, Huntingwood.[/size][/font][/left] [hr]

[center][color=#00369b][size=5][font=Arial][b]Castlebrook Memorial Park, Rouse Hill[/b][/font][/size][/color][/center] [size=2][font=Arial]Castlebrook Memorial Park opened in the 1960s on around 180 acres. In 1973 the park commissioned a chapel and crematorium. The site also contains a monument commemorating the 1804 Battle of Vinegar Hill [/font][/size] [size=2][font=Arial][url=https://www.castlebrook.com.au/]Castlebrook Memorial Park[/url][/font][/size] [hr]

[center][font=Arial][b][color=#00369b][size=5]Pinegrove Memorial Park, Minchinbury[/size][/color][/b][/font][/center] [color=#000000][size=2][font=Arial]Established in 1962, Pinegrove containing 175 acres of lawns, gardens and landscaping, is one of the largest independently owned cemeteries in the Sydney region. The Memorial Park includes Lung Po Shan Chinese Memorial Garden.[/font][/size][/color] [size=2][font=Arial][url=https://www.pinegrovecrem.com.au/]Pinegrove Memorial Park Cemetery & Crematorium[/url][/font][/size] [hr]