Saint John's Cemetery was
established on the Southern outskirts of the settlement at Rose Hill in
1790. I have not been able to find out why this particular spot was
chosen or who chose it.
John Clements wrote: "Most
early cemeteries I have seen have been located in a quiet area a few kilometres
from town usually on a hill if one was nearby" 1.
This was the situation of the Rose Hill burial ground in 1790.
The first burial grounds, near Dawes
Point Barracks at 'The Rocks' has been destroyed. The next one, on the
site of the present Sydney Town Hall was established in 1793,
three years after Rose Hill.
Some written and oral history refers to the
cemetery as "Marsden's Bull Paddock". This is unlikely for a
number of reasons. The records indicate there were ten burials in the
cemetery by the end of 1790 and a further sixty seven in 1791,
indicating it was an established place of internment before Samuel
Marsden arrived in Parramatta in 1794. Whether Marsden owned a bull at
this time is unknown, however grazing stock on consecrated land seems
out of character with Marsden's religious sensibilities.
Marsden did own a bull paddock in later years,
early plans place it on the Southern side of the Western Road, almost
directly opposite St John's Cemetery, which is on the Northern side. The
Bull Paddocks later became the Parramatta Police Paddocks, so is
conceivable the the two areas have become confused. To add to the
confusion Collins, when writing of the internment of the body of Henry
Edward Dodd, the Superintendent of Convicts employed in cultivation at
Rose Hill wrote:
".....His (Dodd's) body was interred in a
corner of a large spot of ground which had been enclosed 'for the
preservation of stock whither he was attended' by all free people and
convicts at Rose Hill 2.
The fact that the land was originally a stock
paddock would add to the confusion, however this is before Samuel Marsden
arrived and probably before the land was consecrated.
The death of Henry Dodd gives two firsts to
Parramatta, the first public funeral in the colony and the
earliest headstone in situ in Australia.
Francis Pollon, in discussing Dodd's grave
remarks that "earlier headstones marking previous burial places are
gone", 3 Judith Dunn
suggests that "there is no evidence there ever were any, indeed it
is an indication of the esteem in which Henry Dodd was held that
when the colony was facing famine, time was taken to provide him with a
headstone simply inscribed,
H.E Dodd 1791"4
