Rookwood Cemetery Lookup

[Jaki]

Thanks for that Leonie.

Jaki

[PrueM]

Hooray!  Thank you Leonie!  That's wonderful.  Rachel and Charles were my great-grandparents, and Jean was my mum's aunt.  If you are out that way again, and are in the Independent section, and are not otherwise busy, I would like very much to have the cremation info, it it's not too much trouble, please.  Thank you!

Are there offices located in each section of Rookwood?  Do you know when they would be open - or is there a website related to Rookwood that I could look up to see?

Thanks again, I really appreciate it, especially when yesterday was so hot.

Prue

[Mungbeans]

It was a pleasure, Prue.  I love rambling around Rookwood.

Each section has its own office and they have not linked up their databases.  In fact the Crematorium's office doesn't have its registers online at all.  If you want details of a cremation you need to know the exact year, as there is a register for each year, with entries recorded by the first letter of the surname.  Not in alphabetical order either, so they have too scan the whole list. 

Despite this I found that the crematorium was a good place to look because most of the ashes were deposited in the Niche walls or Memorial Gardens and the plaques there have the same information you would get on a gravestone, and in some cases, more.  I took some photos of plaques at the Memorial Garden and they were very clear.  Also no problem with the letters weathering, which is a problem with sandstone gravestones.

Give me half an hour and I'll scan in a map of where the Hayne's grave is located.

Cheers
Leonie

[Mungbeans]

Here is a map of where the Haynes grave is located:
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d34/leonieprice/Rookwood/methodist.jpg

[PrueM]

Great stuff, thanks for all that info Leonie, and also the scan.  I will have to make another trip to Rookwood sometime soon.  I only had   an hour or so last time, and found the two graves I was looking for, but would love to have a wander around the old Anglican bit with all the marvellous vault tombs - incredible stuff!!  I also have several ancestors from the old Sydney burial grounds in the city, whose remains were moved to Rookwood when the railway lines were being put through the city.  I would love to find out where they were buried (I assume in a mass pit).

Thanks again! 

Prue

[Mungbeans]

I just found this article about the Old Burial Grounds.

http://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/history/foundations/BurialGround.html

Apparently they only moved the bodies they absolutely had to and did not try to match bodies to gravestones.  They just erected a monument without any names or information.  They are still finding bodies from the old burial ground today.

Leonie