Six-Feet-Down-Under : St Matthews, Windsor

My first trip to the graveyard surrounding the Anglican Church of St Matthews in Windsor, was in the middle of 2008 when I was a member of an Historic Houses Trust (HHT) group tracing the ill-feeling between the architect, Francis Greenway, and the builder, Henry Kitchen. And the towering ego of both these gentlemen, AND the governor of the colony, Lachlan Macquarie. The church was constructed in fits and starts between 1810 and 1820, with the first service conducted in 1821. Andrew Thompson was the first to be interred in the graveyard of this church, in 1810, and interred by none other than the Governor himself.


Even with a two hour wander, there was not enough time to carefully consider each and every gravestone, so I shall return before the end of this calender year. It is unusual in Sydney to see a graveyard, rather than a cemetery, although St Stephen's at Camperdown, and St Jude's at Randwick come readily to mind, both of which are also Anglican Churches. At St Matthew's, though, there has been much freelance renovation! There is a sign at the front of the church requesting that no work be done on the graves without prior authorisation, but I suspect this is honoured more in the breach. Neither St Stephen's, nor St Jude's, has stones with the print re-inked, or stones painted white to hightlight the print. And yet, there are some wonderfully historic resting places within this churchyard. I will research some of them, singularly, for my 'Monday-In-Memoriam' post to this expanding blog.