Botany Cemetery

Botany Cemetery, then known as Bunnerong Cemetery, was dedicated in 1888 when it was laid out on an area which was initially 10 hectares. The Land 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. Approximately 746 headstones from the original 2,285 stones survived the 1901 transfer to the Pioneer Memorial Park section, among them are those of

• the Lord family vault including Simeon Lord (1771-1840). Transported for stealing muslin and calico, Lord became a leading entrepreneur in the colony and a founder of the Bank of NSW
• Mary Reibey (1777-1855), a young horse stealer and later one of Sydney's leading businesswomen.
• John Cadman (1772-1848), principal superintendent of boats.
• George Howe (1769-1821), sent to the colony for shoplifting Howe became a government printer and published Australia's first newspaper, the Sydney Gazette and NSW Advertiser.
• Robert Watson, after whom Watson's Bay is named.
• Ellis Bent (1783-1815), Judge-Advocate of NSW, and the first practising barrister-at-law in the colony.

Many other 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)
• 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)