'I I I WOLLONGONG CITY COUNCIL I I THE OLD ROMAN CATHOLIC CEMETERY I CROWN STREET, WOLLONGONG I c.1830-1995 I I I ! I, I· I I .' ; .:~--:... .. I CONSERVATION PLAN I Anne Bickford and Associates Heritage Consultants I 135 Catherine St Leichhardt NSW 2040 Phone 02-95699672 Fax 02-95500261 I FINAL REPORT ,I August 1996 'I I I .t I I 1 I CONTENTS PAGE I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 5 I 1.0 BACKGROUND 6 1.1 The client 1.2 Liaison ( 1.3 The study area 1.4 The brief 1.5 The study team 7 I 1.6 Authorship 1.7 Additional reports produced for this project I 2.0 METHODOLOGY 9 2.1 Historical research I 2.2 Archaeological research 3.0 HISTORY OF THE OLD ROMAN CATHOLIC CEMETERY, 10 CROWN STREET, WOLLONGONG c.1830-1995 3.1 Preface 3.2 Introduction 11 3.3 William Jacques' 'survey' December 1831 3.4 Asst Surveyor Elliot's Plan 2 May 1833 13 3.5 Attempts to mark out 'the [new] Burial Ground] 1833 14 3.6 Two Burial Grounds 1834 16· 3.7 Plan of the Burial Ground c. May 1834 17 3.8 A fourth burial ground August 1834 18 3.9 The Governor's visit September 1834 I 3.10 A Protestant burial ground Oct to Dec 1834 19 3.11 'Final' plan for a burial ground Dec 1834 20 \1 3.12 A Roman Catholic Burial Ground 1840-1841 22 3.13 Conclusion 26 . 4.0 THE OLD ROMAN CATHOLIC CEMETERY, CROWN STREET, I WOLLONGONG ACT, 1969 NSW 29 4.1 Preamble to the Act I 4.2 Andrew Lysaght Park 4.3 Land added to the showground 4.4 Land added to the public road I 4.5 Brick wall 30 5.0 ASSESSMENT OF CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE 31 I, 5.1 The concept of Cultural Significance 5.2 General assessment processes and criteria 5.3 Specific criteria for cemeteries 32 .1 5.3.1 Historic significance 'I Conservation Plan for The Old Roman Catholic Cemetery. Crown St. Wollongong, c.1830-1995 Anne Bickford & Associates Heritage Consultants for Wollongong City Council, August 1996 I ------------------------------ I " 2 I I: 5.3.2 Social and cultural significance 33 5.3.3 Archaeological significance 34 5.3.4 Architectural significance I­ 5.3.5 Aesthetic significance 5.3.6 Scientific significance 5.4 Contextual analysis 35 t 5.5 Summary Statement of Cultural Significance 39 5.6 Application of state themes and evaluation criteria 40 5.6.1 Themes 1 5.6.2 Criteria 5.6.2.1 Criterion 1: Historic I 5.6.2.2 Criterion 2: Aesthetic 5.6.2.3 Criterion 3: Social 5.6.2.4 Criterion 4: Scientific 41 I 5.6.2.5 Criterion 5: Other 5.6.2.6 Criterion 6: Rarity 5.6.2.7 Criterion 7: Representativeness 42 ·1 6.0 BOUNDARIES OF THE CEMETERY AS REVEALED BY -I- HISTORICAL RESEARCH 43 7.0 PRELIMINARY REPORT ON THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL 45 SURVEY FOR GRAVES I 8.0 RECOMMENDATIONS TO PREVENT BURIALS BEING 47 . UNCOVERED DURING SITE WORKS I, 8.1 Issue: Intact burial observed at a depth of 1 metre 8.2 Issue: Burials in the old cemetery may have been disturbed 8.3 Preferred option -I 8.4 Second option 8.5 Third option 48 I: 9.0 SCIENTIFIC SIGNIFICANCE OF BURIALS AND SKELETONS 49 9.1 Introduction 9.2 What is known of the skeletal remains I 9.3 Definition of scientific significance 9.4 Conclusion 53 I 10.0 ANDREW LYSAGHT PARK PRECINCT REDEVELOPMENT / URBAN DESIGN SCHEME 55 I 11.0 APPENDICES 11.1 Appendix 1: Surveyor Jacques' Report, December 1831 56 -, 11.2 Appendix 2: Catalogue of Maps 11.3 Appendix 3: Catalogue of Pictures 62 -I Conservation Plan for The Old Roman Catholic Cemetery. Crown 5t. WoIlongong. c.183Q-1995 I- Anne Bickford & Associates Heritage Consultants for WoIlongong City Council, August 1996 I· I I 3 I 11.4 Appendix 4: Chronology of the Old Burial Ground ,I Wollongong c.1830-1995 64 11.5 Appendix 5: Bibliography 79 " 12.0 REGISTER OF BURIALS, OLD ROMAN CATHOLIC CEMETERY 90 I 13.0 REPORT ON ESTIMATED CEMETERY BOUNDARIES 93 14.0 CONSERVATION SURVEY OF HEADSTONES IN I ANDREW LYSAGHT PARK 94 I LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE NUMBER ,I Location Map of site 1 Aerial photograph of site 2 I' Portion of Old Cemetery dedicated to Sportsground Trust 3 Plan of portion of Sportsground Trust and portion of Andrew 4 I Lysaght Park showing the location of the 16 graves surveyed 'Plan of Ground for the proposed Township of Wollongong' 5 11 Showing 'Old Burial Ground', 2 May. 1833 'I Enlargement of part of Figure 5 6 'Sketch of a portion Ground at Wollongong shewing the 7 situation of the place used as a Burial Ground' 31 March 1834 Copy of plan of 'Wolongong' showing the site as 'b: Burial 8 "I Ground formerly used', 1834 a , Enlargement of 'Plan for the Town of Wollongong' 1834 9 Enlargement of 'Sketch of the Allotments in Wollongong 10 applied for to purchase by William Wells' showing 'Burial I Ground occupied by the Roman Catholics' and 'Tombs' 25 January 1840 I 'Survey of the Roman Catholic Burial Ground Wollongong' 11 28th July 1841 I Pencil sketch of Wollongong by Eugen von Guerard 1859 12 I Conservation Plan for The Old Roman Catholic Cemetery. Crown 51. Wollongong. c.1830-1995 Anne Bickford & Associates Heritage Consultants for Wollongong City Council, August 1996 I I 4 I I Plan showing 'Edge of Sandbanks' covering the 'Roman 13 Catholic Burial Grounds' A.W. Biggar, Surveyor, July 1880 I Enlargement of 'Plan of Portion 88 of Proposed New Show 14 Ground' 10 August 1915 I, 'Plan of Reserve for Preservation of Graves' 4 April 1916 15 Plan of the 'Reserve for Preservation of Graves' showing its 16 division into four separate portions. Portion 95 was dedicated to the Sportsground Trust; Portion 113 to an extension of the bus parking area; and Portions 93 and 94 to Andrew Lysaght Park Undated plan (probably 1960s) from Wollongong Council file 17a showing the location of 16 groups of gravestones and single gravestones in Andrew Lysaght Park, and the area transferred by the Department of Lands to the Sportsground Trust List of these gravestones 17b I Dept of Lands record photographs of tombstones 17c-i Photograph of Cemetery with Sportsground Trust buildings 18 1" behind. Taken by South Coast Times 11 March 1963 Estimate of location of Old RC Burial Ground from 19 ,I early plans, 1834-1841 Legend for Plan marked "A", Figure 21 20 1 Plan "A". Overlay of early plans onto current cadastral 21 boundaries ·1 NOTE: The plans used in this Report were mostly provided by the historical I repositories as photocopies of microfilmed copies of the originals. Therefore they are not nearly as clear as t.he originals, and the I, microfilms from the Archives Office of NSW are scored with many horizontal lines through use by other readers (eg Figures 7 and 10). The originals are clear and sometimes hand coloured. This Report will I have wide interest in the Wollongong community and other people interested in local history and/ or cemeteries. If the Wollongong City Council decides to publish it, then it is recommended that the I, repositories be approached for colour photographs of the originals, so that the plan details can be seen clearly. t Conservation Plan for The Old Roman Catholic Cemetery. Crown St. WoIlongong. c.1830-1995 I' Anne Bickford & Associates Heritage Consultants for WoIlongong City Council, August 1996 I I' I· 5 I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I A burial ground was established on the coast of Wollongong at what is now lower Crown Street in about 1830, even before the town of ,I Wollongong was laid out by government surveyors. From about 1830 to 1840 it was used by all denominations and in 1841 it became the Roman Catholic Burial Ground. At its closure in 1861 there were 155 burials listed in the Burial Register, but as many as 200 people may be I buried there, as the Register reflects not so much the number of burials as the availability of the priest to record them. After the cemetery was ,I closed three further interments of the Andrew Lysaght family were made, to accompany an earlier Lysaght burial. This is the .oldest cemetery in the Wollongong area and is thus of considerable historical I significance. In 1969 under the Old Roman Catholic Cemetery, Crown Street, I Wollongong Act, the cemetery was divided up by the Department of Lands between Trustees of the Wollongong Sportsground Trust, the Department of Main Roads, and the Wollongong City Council. The I Council remodelled its portion of the cemetery into a rest park, called Andrew Lysaght Park, and mounted the remaining legible headstones I from the old cemetery into a commemorative wall in the park. The purpose of this Conservation Plan is to discuss the history and significance of the old cemetery, to assess its original location and I boundaries, and to respond to other issues referred to in the brief. As a new Entertainment Centre is to be built on the Wollongong , Sports ground Trust's site, and adjacent Andrew Lysaght Park is to be remodelled as its eastern forecourt, a Conservation Plan is necessary to address the heritage issues involved and to provide advice concerning I the burials. Using the historical research generated by this Conservation Plan, between December 1995 and March 1996 ·an archaeological excavation I took place on the Wollongong Sportsground Trust's site to see if any graves lay in the path of the Entertainment Centre development.