Is sacrilege like pregancy - you either are or you aren't?

This headstone dates from 1826, and wind, sun, and rain have had their way with it. What to do? What to do?

Bingo! Re-paint the big writing, 'cause that is funny! And then plug a plaque onto the back with all the small, unreadable writing. Tsk! Tsk! Surely, a discreet, adjacent notice-board would have been more respectful and informative.

At the order of Captain Brabyn, JP, Constable William Green came to the aid of Judith Connolly, who was being wooed - and jostled - by Issac Smith. Smith pistol-whipped the young constable, who died soon-after. Three weeks later, on a Friday, Smith was found guilty by Judge Francis Forbes of the NSW Supreme Court. He was hung, by Harry Stain the 'finisher of the law', on the Monday.

This memorial is located within the graveyard of St Matthew's Anglican Church, at Windsor, New South Wales.

Taphophile Tragics # 37

Each of these headstones was photographed at St Matthew's Anglican Church in Windsor, NSW, one of the earliest graveyards in the colony, the church being 'authorised' by Governor Lachlan Macquarie, and designed by the reknowned convict architect, Francis Greenway. The foundation stone states 1820.


My issue here: Is it sacrilege to renovate a headstone? A quick definition of sacrilege: the desecration or misuse of something regarded as worthy of extreme respect. The first headstone is showing extreme weathering and is already bordering on unreadable. The smaller pair of headstones have been 'renovated' in two separate styles. The final headstone ... what can one say about this level of vandalism? Each of these methods seem, to me, to be lacking a deft touch. But I do not want the information lost to history. But should history have the final say?

* * * * *

Welcome to the 37th 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.

An unremarkable life

Most of us live unremarkable lives, in the grand scheme of things. We are followers. We are part of the crowd. We matter only to our family and friends. And that is the most that we can ask for. And, that is what is important. To matter to family and friends before 'the lone and level sands stretch far away'. We are not Ozymandias, and we do not aspire to be.

It was the quiet pride in this headstone which caught my eye. 'An ANZAC'. Even the parentheses were emphasising the ordinariness of his achievement.

Reuben Ernest Starkey (known as Ernie) joined the AIF (Australian Infantry Forces) on 21st August 1914, which was 17 days after Great Britain (and her Dominions) declared war on the Kaiser's Germany. He was typical of so many other young men, from small country towns in NSW who heeded their nation's call. A response we find hard to comprehend nowadays. Which was the aim. However, Ernie was already 32. He was short: 5'7". He was stocky: 11.5 stone. He gave his occupation as 'surveyor's cook'. He was in the middle of the large family of Joseph Starkey and Emma Green, who lived on the rivers and gullies between Gosford and the Hawkesbury. They were grafters.

Ernie was allocated Regimental Number 184 and joined the 1st Machine Gun Division of the 4th Battalion. They had 16 Vickers Machine Guns. He embarked from Sydney on HMAT 'Euripedes' on 20th October 1914 and returned to Sydney on 28th October 1918. He served in Egypt, the Dardenelles, the UK, and France. He alternated between being a Private and a Driver. A severe case of pneumonia saw him in hospital in Alexandria when the intial landing at Gallipoli occurred, but he rejoined his Company on that blighted peninsula on 17th August 1915. During his service, he had bouts in hospital for chronic bronchitis, VD, and a septic hand.

Ernie never married, instead living with his father at Spencer on the Hawkesbury River, until his father's death in 1941. He spent most of his life as a labourer, and the last decade of his life as a gardener with rooms in Faunce Street, Gosford. Ernie could read and write (as could his father), but even before he joined the infantry, he was missing 11 teeth. A basic, hard-scrabble of a life.


For the record the images are:

Ernie's grave in Point Clare Cemetery, outside Gosford
A page of his Service Record showing his Gallipoli service
Another page showing his dental problems
A letter from his father to the War Office in 1918
A letter from his younger brother (Herbert Donald born 1889) requesting his Regimental Number to place upon his headstone

Taphophile Tragics # 36

Point Clare Cemetery, maintained and controlled by Gosford City Council about an hour and a bit north of Sydney, would have to be the most organised cemetery I have ever meandered. Not only are there two large maps, one of them being at the entrance, seen here, but there are also stumpy black markers on all the Sections and Rows. I was looking for Anglican Section 8, Row 1, Lots 3 & 4. My own Taphophile post will spin you the yarn.

Point Clare Cemetery 'serves' a working class area, that must be predomninantly Protestant going on the allocation of the Sections among the religions. It has a most beautiful location, backing into the bush as it does, with the clear call of the Bell Bird resounding across the grounds. It also has not one, but three, sections labelled 'Still Born'. I will come to this in the weeks ahead - and promise to give you plenty of warning.

* * * * *

Welcome to the 36th 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 # 35

These are the main gates to the Gore Hill Cemetery in the northern suburbs of Sydney. Originally dedicated in May 1868, the cemetery covers just under 6 hectares. The first known burial was in 1877, but there are monuments dated earlier than this that were transferred from the Devonshire Sandhills Cemetery when the land that cemetery occupied was reused as Central Station. Gore Hill Cemetery was closed to burials in 1974. The cemetery was declared an historic site in 1984, and is listed on the State Heritage Registry. There is a Memorial Wall that is still in use for the depositon of ashes.

* * * * *

Welcome to the 35th 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 # 34

Many of the cemeteries that I haunt have imposing entries, usually with brick gate-posts and an ornate wrought iron double entry gate for vehicles, and a side-gate for pedestrians. Today, I showcase the formal entry to Waverley Cemetery in Sydney. There are more exits than entries, with the entries up the top of the hill, and the exits down the bottom. Make of that what you will!

* * * * *

Welcome to the 34th 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 # 33

As I meander the headstones, I am seeing more and more of these plaques. Frequently, they are erected by descendents of 'fleeters', but not exclusively. However, they ARE left by descendents who are proud of their forbears and who wish to pay homage to their efforts and their grit.

The plaque for John Hill was erected in Camperdown Cemetery, beside a heavily weathered stone where one could JUST make out his name. He was done for having a counterfeit note in his pocket, and given 14 years for his troubles. He was 38 and left behind a wife with 6 children ranging in age from 11 to 1. All up, he married four times, but ... he was buried by his eldest son.

Rebecca Oakes was born Small, the daughter of two First Fleeters, born the year after the colony was founded. Rebecca married Francis Oakes, and bore him 14 children, Samuel died at birth, and Lucy died aged 9. That is a much lower proportion than I have seen in many other families. Rebecca's father died in 1850,aged 88, the last remaining FFer to die in the colony. Rebecca became a 'grande dame' of early Parramatta and is interred at Rookwood'

* * * * *

Welcome to the 33rd 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.