Help - Qld death record

[tgirl]

Catherine Costello died in Brisbane on 21 January 1856, aged 37. Her obituary is the Moreton Bay Courier (as Katherine Costello), wife of Michael Costello. I can't find her on Ancestry.com.au death records, nor the Qld online index, I have also looked on the NSW index. Michael and Catherine originally arrived in Sydney in 1838 as Bounty immigrants and went to the California goldfields in 1850 then returned in 1855 and ended up in Brisbane. Catherine was born in Cork, Ireland and was Roman Catholic. Does anyone know of a RC church in Brisbane at that time? Michael took out a license on the Prince of Wales Hotel not long after arriving in Brisbane in June 1855. After Catherine's death, Michael and the children left Brisbane in March 1856 for Sydney and ended up in Melbourne in November that year.  I assume Catherine was buried at Paddington cemetery which no longer exists. Any help appreciated. Kind regards, Mandy.

[Ruskie]

Welcome to rootschat Mandy. 

Presumably you have seen this?:
http://www.rootschat.com/links/0z5l/ 
Looking at dates established it does seem the most likely place of burial.
http://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/facilities-recreation/parks-venues/cemeteries/historic-cemeteries
I don't know if there were small private burial grounds nor how to find any information about their existence. (I'll be interested to see what information others come up with)

Regarding Catholic churches, I only know St Stephens but that would be too recent for your family. I hope someone can help you.

[~MERLIN~]

The compulsory registration system for QLD BDM was introduced 1 March 1856 whilst Queensland was still part of the colony of NSW. Administration of QLD was by NSW until 1859.

You will most likely have to search for a QLD church/parish burial register.

[tgirl]

Thank you Ruskie and Merlin, Someone on a Rootsweb mailing list did look up the registers of the relocated headstones when Paddington cemetery closed, but no Catherine Costello. Not surprising really as a monument may have easily perished over time, just need to know what RC parish registers are available in Brisbane at that time.

[Aussie1947]

Hi,

Further to Ruskie's entry the Moreten Bay Courier 14th April 1868 mentions Dean Rigney assisted by the choir of St Stephens Church.  Dean Rigney was a Roman Catholic Minister.

It could be that the burial was registered at the Church but not passed on for official registration later on. Next time I'm at the State Library in Brisbane I'll see if the burial is on a Parish microfilm for St Stephens.

Gerry

[DaveKe]

From Wikipedia:

"St Stephen's Chapel stands immediately to the south of the cathedral. The chapel was designed by English architect Augustus Pugin and built between 1847 and 1850. The first Mass was celebrated in the completed building on 12 May 1850. In June 1859 it became the cathedral for the first Bishop of Brisbane. It is the oldest Catholic church in Queensland."

It's a pretty common pattern.  Build a small church,  and then build a bigger one.

It's not entirely clear whether this is the earliest Catholic church in queensland,  or just the oldest extant one.

Anyhow...  there was a Catholic church in operation there, by the time your relatives arrived in 1855.

[DaveKe]

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/4768413

Might be your rellos here.

[tgirl]

Thank you DaveKe and Aussie1947, I really appreciate you looking it up at the library Aussie 1947. DaveKe - I have found the rellos in Trove - departing Sydney in May 1850 - as "Castillo", you have to use every spelling variation! It's just Catherine's death entry that is bothering me and also, the eldest son William Costello, born in Sydney 1842. I can't find a death for him, I couldn't find a death index with parents listed, but a lot of death indexes don't have the parents listed. Might have to give up on him. Many thanks everyone!