Taphophile Tragics # 26

Last week, a number of contributors mentioned the difficulty they had in locating specific graves in cemeteries. Here is the best system that I have encountered thus far. It is for the Boroondarah General Cemetery, aka Kew Cemetery, in Melbourne.

Online, they allowed me to search for Family name, enabling me to find family names of which I was hitherto unaware. I printed the coordinates at home, plus a schematic diagram of the cemetery. However, this sort of diagram is rarely enough. The complexity of cemeteries is immense, and rarely are they pegged and explained on the ground. I realise that numbering can appear impersonal, but it is essential for research.

Many cemeteries leave it at that, and expect the researcher to call into the office and request a more detailed 'map'. However, at Kew they are more advanced. Outside the main office, just inside the main gate, there is a computer cubicle, reminiscent of an ATM. This reproduces the online information BUT ALSO prints off two more detailed slips to aid the translation of the map into reality. Which was absolutely essential. Kew Cemetery is jam-packed. I include the two slips here.

Using these two slips, the coordinates AND the occasional metal peg in the ground (which I showed last week), we found the graves of my ancestors quite quickly. BTW, I am now in the process of organising a 'wake' to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the death of my Great-Great-Grandfather, John Dunstan Tonkin, on 4th December 2012. We will plant-up the plot (plus that of his oldest son nearby) and drink champagne in remembrance.

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Welcome to the 26th week of Taphophile Tragics.

Your contribution is most welcome. Please ensure that you include some details of the cemetery in which you took your photographs, and link directly to your post, rather than simply to your blog in general. This week, Mr Linky opens at 9:30pm Monday, Sydney time (GMT+10), and closes at 9:30pm on the Friday. When you can, please visit the other contributing bloggers to show your appreciation of their endeavours. Due to time zone variations and overcrowded schedules, some contributions are made later than Tuesday/Wednesday. As per usual, we are working with the Linky with thumbnails, and displaying the oldest entry first, with no randomising.

Taphophile Tragics # 25

My heart was pounding in my chest, my mouth parched. I had my research clutched in my hand as I entered Kew Cemetery. Would today be any more successful than the day before at Springvale Botannical? A headstone. A headstone. My kingdom for a headstone.

Yes, I had found the resting place of my great-grandfather's sisters, Mary Louisa and Emma Kezia, but beneath grass, sans headstone. What did Kew have to divulge to me for the resting place of my great-great-grandparents, John Dunstan Tonkin and Jane Forrest Gibson? Passing into the Independent A section, my eyes search for graves 888 and 889 ...

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Welcome to the 25th week of Taphophile Tragics.

Your contribution is most welcome. Please ensure that you include some details of the cemetery in which you took your photographs, and link directly to your post, rather than simply to your blog in general. This week, Mr Linky opens at 8:30pm Monday, Sydney time (GMT+10), and closes at 10pm on the Friday. When you can, please visit the other contributing bloggers to show your appreciation of their endeavours. Due to time zone variations and overcrowded schedules, some contributions are made later than Tuesday/Wednesday. As per usual, we are working with the Linky with thumbnails, and displaying the oldest entry first, with no randomising.

Taphophile Tragics # 24

I am now a 'Friend of Rookwood'. This is a group of volunteers who, on the first Sunday of the month, conduct themed tours of the necropolis. Thus far, I have been on the 'History Tour 1', and 'Convicts'. The June tour, which I gave a miss due to the rain and handling a camera AND a walking stick, was on the theme 'Ships & Shipwrecks'. There is another on 'Plague & Pestilence'. The Rookwood Necropolis Open Day is Sunday 23 September. Put it in your diary!

This is Jane who is a really well-informed tour-guide (no, we don't call them docents!) with a dry wit! She rests upon the resting place of three of the sons of our first Post-Master, Isaac Nichols. They weren't convicts - but he was!

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Welcome to the 24th week of Taphophile Tragics.

Your contribution is most welcome. Please ensure that you include some details of the cemetery in which you took your photographs, and link directly to your post, rather than simply to your blog in general. This week, Mr Linky opens at 9:30pm Monday, Sydney time (GMT+10), and closes at 10pm on the Friday. When you can, please visit the other contributing bloggers to show your appreciation of their endeavours. Due to time zone variations and overcrowded schedules, some contributions are made later than Tuesday/Wednesday. As per usual, we are working with the Linky with thumbnails, and displaying the oldest entry first, with no randomising.

Taphophile Tragics # 23

The Trustee of the Catholic Section of Rookwood Necropolis, has erected self-tour signage throughout the Old Catholic area. I would have totally missed this otherwise!

This statue of Mary is standing on a globe of the world, and around her feet is entwined a snake eating an apple. Pretty simple symbolism to understand, but not to SEE! The serpent represents Satan, a very subtle enemy. The apple is the 'forbidden fruit' symbolising Sin. The figure of Mary represents the dignity of the human body, that gives hope, faith, and love to the people of the world.

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Welcome to the 23rd week of Taphophile Tragics.

Your contribution is most welcome. Please ensure that you include some details of the cemetery in which you took your photographs, and link directly to your post, rather than simply to your blog in general. This week, Mr Linky opens at 10pm Monday, Sydney time (GMT+10), and closes at 10pm on the Friday. When you can, please visit the other contributing bloggers to show your appreciation of their endeavours. Due to time zone variations and overcrowded schedules, some contributions are made later than Tuesday/Wednesday. As per usual, we are working with the Linky with thumbnails, and displaying the oldest entry first, with no randomising.

Taphophile Tragics # 22

Here is another form of rest house in the Rookwood Necropolis. I showed you two, simpler, variations last week. This is officially called the 'Ornamental Rest House' which was built in 1901 in the Old Anglican Section. Being Australians, we don't truck with plebian names like 'Ornamental Rest House' and this eventually earned the moniker, 'Elephant House' because it reminded someone of the elephant house in Taronga Zoo. Duh!

It is undergoing restoration, and is the centrepiece for an evolving ceremony of community inclusion called 'Living with our Dead', which held a Dusk Ceremony in the Elephant House this weekend just past. Living with our Dead is a project that fosters individual and community artistic expression, placing death as a significant part of life. The projects encourage personal and idiosyncratic expressions of how we live with our dead, and through this, to understand what living with our dead may offer us as individuals and communities.

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Welcome to the 22nd week of Taphophile Tragics.

Your contribution is most welcome. Please ensure that you include some details of the cemetery in which you took your photographs, and link directly to your post, rather than simply to your blog in general. This week, Mr Linky opens at 10pm Monday, Sydney time (GMT+10), and closes at 10pm on the Friday. When you can, please visit the other contributing bloggers to show your appreciation of their endeavours. Due to time zone variations and overcrowded schedules, some contributions are made later than Tuesday/Wednesday. As per usual, we are working with the Linky with thumbnails, and displaying the oldest entry first, with no randomising.

Taphophile Tragics # 21

Rookwood Necropolis has many heritage areas, and the Old Anglican section is one such. Here are two of the recently restored 'rest houses' for those visiting the necropolis. They are not toilets, but places to escape the heat and prying eyes.

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Welcome to the 21st week of Taphophile Tragics.

Your contribution is most welcome. Please ensure that you include some details of the cemetery in which you took your photographs, and link directly to your post, rather than simply to your blog in general. This week, Mr Linky opens at 10pm Monday, Sydney time (GMT+10), and closes at 10pm on the Friday. When you can, please visit the other contributing bloggers to show your appreciation of their endeavours. Due to time zone variations and overcrowded schedules, some contributions are made later than Tuesday/Wednesday. As per usual, we are working with the Linky with thumbnails, and displaying the oldest entry first, with no randomising.

Taphophile Tragics # 20

Sheep appear to figure highly in Christian mythology: lamb of God that takest away; the Good Shepherd tending his flock. There are bound to be more, of which I am blissfully unaware.

However, this ewe is not that trusting of the Good Shepherd, with that wild-eyed stare, and one ear wrapped firmly around his staff. This is, once again, over in Waverley Cemetery, the cemetery that sits atop the slope overlooking Bondi Beach and the Pacific Ocean.

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Welcome to the 20th week of Taphophile Tragics.

Your contribution is most welcome. Please ensure that you include some details of the cemetery in which you took your photographs, and link directly to your post, rather than simply to your blog in general. This week, Mr Linky opens at 10pm Monday, Sydney time (GMT+10), and closes at 10pm on the Friday. When you can, please visit the other contributing bloggers to show your appreciation of their endeavours. Due to time zone variations and overcrowded schedules, some contributions are made later than Tuesday/Wednesday. As per usual, we are working with the Linky with thumbnails, and displaying the oldest entry first, with no randomising.