The Old Sydney Burial Ground: the 2008 Archaeological Investigations
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AUSTRALASIAN HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY, 35, 2017 The Old Sydney Burial Ground: the 2008 archaeological investigations Nicholas Pitt1, Mary Casey2, Anthony Lowe3 and Robyn Stocks4 Upgrade works in 2008 to the Sydney Town Hall required the archaeological excavation and removal of a portion of the Old Sydney Burial Ground. This was the principal burial place for the non-Aboriginal population of Sydney from September 1792 to January 1820. The 2008 archaeological investigation recorded evidence for 68 burials. This paper summarises key results of this investigation, apart from the skeletal remains. The archaeological remains provided insights into the burial practices of the early colonists, including the spatial arrangement of graves and coffin construction methods. Comparisons with other burial grounds and cemeteries in Australia and overseas revealed that some of these burial practices were unusual, while most others were commonplace. Unusual practices included the adjacent burials of adults and children, thought to be mothers and their children, a substantial minority of burials orientated facing west, and a lack of coffin furniture and clothing-related artefacts. This paper discusses possible reasons for west- facing burials with reference to the broader symbolic meanings attached to burial orientation. It considers the possibility that these formed a distinct group, but concludes that without further evidence no firm identification can be made. It also presents evidence from the 2008 investigation that demonstrates the limited extent of the nineteenth-century exhumations. The Old Sydney Burial Ground (OSBG) was the principal burial place for the non- Aboriginal population of Sydney from September 1792 to January 1820. It was contemporary with St John’s Cemetery, Parramatta (1790). The OSBG was located near the present southwest corner of George and Druitt streets, Sydney (Figures 1 and 2). While initially placed on the outskirts of the town, by the early nineteenth century the city had expanded to surround the former burial ground. After considerable political debate, the OSBG was redeveloped from the late 1860s, largely as the location of the Sydney Town Hall. Although many graves were exhumed in the 1860s, construction works in the area from the 1870s onward repeatedly dis- covered burials. To date there have been four archaeological investigations of the site, firstly by the University of Sydney (1974), then Godden Mackay Pty Ltd (1991) and Casey & Lowe (2003, 2007– 2008), (Birmingham and Liston 1976; Casey & Lowe 2006, 2007a, 2017; Godden Mackay 1991; Lowe and Mackay 1992). All archaeological investigations have been in response to construction works. Between 2007 and 2010, the City of Sydney commissioned upgrade works to the Sydney Town Hall. These included the Figure 1: Central Sydney, showing the location of the OSBG, outlined in red. excavation of an additional basement to provide extra space for storage and plant below the Lower 2007, 2010). In 2007 Casey & Lowe were commissioned to Town Hall (also known as the Peace Hall; City of Sydney carry out archaeological testing within the Peace Hall before this work could be approved. Subsequently, the Heritage 1 Casey & Lowe, [email protected] Council of NSW approved a programme of archaeological 2 Casey & Lowe and Department of Archaeology, University of recording and salvage (Casey & Lowe 2007a, 2007b), which Sydney, [email protected] was undertaken between 7 January and 5 March 2008, with 3 Casey & Lowe, [email protected] further excavations on 9–10 July and 19–22 August 2008. 4 Casey & Lowe, [email protected] Each grave was excavated by hand. The deposits immediately 3 Figure 2: The historic boundaries of the OSBG in relation to current buildings and graves recorded archaeologically to date. surrounding the human remains were sieved using 5 mm and buried on the site in 1789 (Collins 1798:232; Johnson and 10 mm sieves. A public open day was held on 22 January Sainty 2001:12). Captain Shea’s funeral had been conducted 2008, which attracted over 3000 visitors with many lining up with full military honours and was attended by the Governor around the block (ABC News Online 22 Jan. 2008). and fellow officers (Collins 1798:53; Tench 1793:15). It is This paper summarises the results of the 2008 excavations possible that the location of Shea’s grave influenced the and discusses a range of possible interpretations for the site. selection of the site for the burial ground (Birmingham and The analysis of the skeletal remains and the results of stable Liston 1976:2). isotope analysis from the site are presented in separate papers The appearance of the OSBG changed over time. Initially, in this volume. it appears to have been unfenced (Lesueur 1802) and by February 1804 a plan to enclose the burial ground was pro- HISTORICAL BACKGROUND posed in the Sydney Gazette. This was intended to prevent pigs After they arrived in 1788, the British colonists in Sydney and other livestock grazing there and disturbing the ground. used a number of smaller burial places before the OSBG was By the end of that year, however, palings from the fence had established in 1792. The evidence for these is limited but at been stolen for firewood (Sydney Gazette 5 Feb. 1804:3, 25 least two semi-official burial places were used (Johnson and Nov. 1804:3) and by 1808 the fence was completely gone and Sainty 2001:9-10; Walker 1930:297). One was near George a subscription was undertaken to construct a stone wall set behind a ditch (Sydney Gazette 25 Sep. 1808:2, 9 Oct. 1808:2). Street in The Rocks, around Campbell’s Wharf (Sydney 1 Gazette 25 Mar. 1834:2) and the other was near Clarence The wall was completed in 1809 and measured 168 perches Street, roughly between Margaret and Erskine streets, in the (845 m) in length (Sydney Gazette 4 June 1809:2, 3 Sept. vicinity of the old military barracks at Wynyard (Collins 1809:1). 1798:232, Legislative Council of NSW 1845:818; Figure 1). Governor Macquarie officially expanded the OSBG on Individuals were also occasionally buried on private land, with 5 June 1812, and the new boundaries were set with the high status individuals buried privately within Sydney even assistance of Samuel Marsden, the principal chaplain, William after the OSBG opened (AHMS 1999; Casey & Lowe 2007b; Cowper and Robert Cartwright, the assistant chaplains, and Douglas 2007; Bell’s Life in Sydney 19 Jun. 1847:3; Sydney James Meehan, the assistant surveyor. The expanded area Morning Herald 16 Jun. 1847:3). of the burial ground ‘joined to the present Ground – and The OSBG was set apart for public burials in September Southward & westward of it’ (LEMA 2011). A comparison of 1792 as the construction of the military barracks at Wynyard encroached on the earlier burial place. The site was established 1 Although more commonly a unit of area, ‘perch’ could also be used by Governor Arthur Phillip and the Reverend Richard as a unit of distance, equivalent to the ‘rod’ and the ‘pole’, which Johnson, the Colonial Chaplain, on land previously held by were standardised as 5.5 yards (5.0292 m; Oxford English Dictionary Captain John Shea of the Marines, who is thought to have been 2005: entry II.2). 4 Meehan’s 1807 plan of Sydney with later plans shows that this stage of the Sydney Town Hall on its portion of the land. Only additional area was a triangle of land to the southwest of the those graves that could be readily discovered were exhumed existing burial ground (Meehan 1807). and relocated in 1869 (Cathedral Close Act 1869: sec. 8; It is usually thought that the burials at the OSBG were all Empire 25 Jun. 1869:2; Murray 2016:22; ‘Old Chum’ 1910a). undertaken by Church of England clergy, using the burial The newspaper, The Empire, reported at the time that the service contained in the Book of Common Prayer (Birming- undertakers had difficulty in finding unmarked burials, and ham and Liston 1976:4; Johnson and Sainty 2001:13; Lowe stated that no bones were found from the graves that were and Mackay 1992:16). This is likely to be broadly correct, located but human remains were found in vaults (Empire 25 based on parallels with English law, which allowed Catholics Jun. 1869:2). Taking this claim at face value, it would seem and non-Anglican Protestants to be buried in their local that most remains removed in 1869 came from vaults rather Church of England burial ground, as long as they used the than from graves. This has meant that graves were repeatedly required services (Burn 1763:197; Cherryson et al. 2012:86; discovered during construction works in and around the area Comyns and Kyd 1793:178-179; Shepherd 1801:409). of the former burial ground up to the first archaeological Nevertheless, there were times when no Anglican clergy excavations on the site in 1974. Some of these discoveries would have been available (Bolt 2009:73, 80). For example, were reported in contemporary newspapers or council records. William Pascoe Crook, a former Congregationalist missionary, The recorded discoveries include graves found during major was appointed acting chaplain after the Rum Rebellion in construction works such as the 1870s construction of the St Andrew’s Deanery (since demolished), 1880s construction of January 1808 (Gunson 1966). Alternatively, the ceremony was the Centennial Hall and the associated Lower Town Hall (the performed by the Parish Clerk of St Phillip’s Church, Sydney, location of the 2008 investigation) and a porte coche (since a lay position that involved school teaching, administration demolished) associated with the Sydney Town Hall, and the and some service leading (Sydney Gazette 8 May 1803:3). A construction of Town Hall Railway Station (Empire 12 Aug.