Taphophile Tragcs # 44

Andrew Marvell wrote 'To His Coy Mistress' during which he was trying to convince her to get into the sack with him! He included these lines which resonate even today: But at my back I always hear Time's winged chariot hurrying near; And yonder all before us lie Deserts of vast eternity.

Fossicked for in the Presbyterian Section, Rookwood Necropolis, Sydney, New South Wales

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Welcome to the 44th 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 Twelve Noon, Sunday, Sydney time (GMT+11), and closes at Twelve Noon on the Friday. I apologise for my lack of activity at the moment, and my failing to visit you all. If you are a member of the City Daily Photo community you will understand, I hope, what is occupying my time.

Taphophile Tragics # 43

Many people spend extravagant amounts of money for a proper send-off for their loved-ones. Some can afford it; some cannot. Others spend very little, and yet that is probably felt as keenly.My guess is that Reg and Beryl were battlers. Childless, there was someone who loved them. Beryl died aged 28, and it is tempting to conjecture that it was during childbirth. Reg only lived another ten years. A simple adornment. But still there, after all these years. Discovered in the Church of England Section, Manly Cemetery, Sydney.

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Welcome to the 43rd 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+11), 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 # 40

I stumbled across this dedication during the Rookwood Necropolis Open Day yesterday, where I barely managed it out of the Independent Section. I wonder who 'F. Jenkins' was, yet admire the love they held in their heart for all those years.

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Welcome to the 40th 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.

At the moment, there are three posts a week to this blog:

Mon - Research of an individual from the details on their headstone;
Wed - An example of funerary symbolism and its meaning; and
Fri - 'Six-Feet-Down-Under' highlighting an Australian cemetery/graveyard.

Join me if that sounds of interest.

Taphophile Tragics # 39

This headstone, and grave, is to commemorate the life, and death of Catherin Paskell who died in August 1898. The mason forgot to leave sufficient space to tell us how old Catherin was. I was taken by the method of decoration. I have seen plain headstones, I have seen small (growing) annuals, cut blooms, and all variety of artificial flowers. It is not often that I have seen a bush of this size. I shudder to think how far the roots go downb.

Manly Cemetery, New South Wales, Australia

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Welcome to the 39th 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.

At the moment, there are three posts a week to this blog:

Mon - Research of an individual from the details on their headstone;
Wed - An example of funerary symbolism and its meaning; and
Fri - 'Six-Feet-Down-Under' highlighting an Australian cemetery/graveyard.

Join me if that sounds of interest.

Taphophile Tragics - Something does not add up

Florence and Lillian were cousins, Florence's mother (Winifred, born 1903) was the sister of Lillian's father (Samuel, born 1895). Or, at least, I think that is how it goes. Florence's story is the more straightforward, so let's start there first. She was the only child of Winifred Orr and Eric Alfred Ingoverson (born 1900). In 1938, she was on the roof of the verandah at her houme in Naremburn, when she came into contract with and energized electrical wire, and died of shock, aged 14 years. The Coroner's Report, and the New South Wales BDM records all have her down as Florence Hilda, these being also the names of two of her mother's sisters, one of whom died aged 8. So just where the 'Delmont' comes in, I have no idea.

Now Lillian is a totally different story, shrouded in mystery. Nah, not really. Just that the National Library of Australia site is down, and it holds the Trove record which shows tantalising snippets of Lily's obituary. But I have issues here. The monument says Lily died in 1931 aged 23, meaning she was born in 1908. Is my arithmetic right? The hassle is that the family trees that I can find have Lily's mother (Elsie) being born in 1901 and her father (Samuel) in 1895. I do not understand. What is more, the electoral rolls for 1930 show Samuel and Elsie living at 38 The Causeway, Enfield, yet Lillian (who would have been 22 at that stage and on the electoral roll) was not also listed. I await the repair to the NLA site with bated breath. Morning has broken, and still no Trove. However, thanks to Rosemary I went back to NSW BDM. There were two (2) Lillian Orrs: one born to William and Florence and the other born to Samuel and Elsie. The Lillian born to William and Florence is the one buried at Manly, making her the aunt of Florence and also the aunt of the second Lillian. Lillian (the older .. stick with me) was born in 1906 according to official records. Lillian the younger died in 1929, but must have been born AFTER 1911 which is the cut-off for birth-searches within the NSW BDM records. But still need Trove to read what that obituary says.

This is my contribution to the Taphophile Tragics Community.

This is my contribution to the Cemetery Sunday Community.

This post is also linked up to Graveyard Rabbits on FB.

Taphophile Tragics # 38

Thomas Lovell died in 1839 at the age of 39. According to his headstone, there is noone else occupying the same plot. So perhaps this wrought iron fence around his plot dates from 1839, too. St Matthew's Anglican Church, Windsor, New South Wales, Australia

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Welcome to the 38th 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.

You may have noticed that I am posting to this blog more regularly now. I will post my own contribution to each weekly TT meme on the Monday instead of posting to 'Sydney Eye'. On Wednesdays, I will post about funerary symbolism. On Fridays, I will post about a cemetery in Australia under the sub-heading, 'Six-Feet-Down-Under'. Join me if that sounds of interest.

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'

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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.

Taphophile Tragics # 30

The Hand of God, Rookwood Necropolis

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Welcome to the 30th 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 # 27

If it was good enough for the ancient Egyptians, I guess it is good enough for us. As we travel that final journey, we need the accoutrements of our earthly life to cushion the journey. Here are three examples.

The first grave was unnamed, as are many out in that massive expanse of Rookwood Necropolis, which is equivalent to a standard Sydney suburb. Some family wag has given Joan a kicked 'bucket'. And the empty bottle of 4711 graces the tombstone of Marjorie Claudine Savage who hailed the ferryman in 2008 at the aqe of 92, not that you would know from the, admittedly, lovely portrait of her which is attached to her black marble tombstone.

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Welcome to the 27th 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 # 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.

Taphophile Tragics # 19

In a quiet chapel in North Sydney, surrounded by commercial high-rise, a stone's throw from the harbour bridge, and within cooee of the busy 'High Street', lies the tomb of Mary MacKillop, Mother Mary of the Cross, the foundress of The Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart. Born in 1842 in Melbourne, Mary died in 1909 in North Sydney. She was beatified in 1995, and was entered in the pantheon of Roman Catholic saints in 2010 at Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome.

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Welcome to the 19th 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 Sunday, Sydney time (GMT+10) instead of the usual Monday, because the Tuesday being the first of the month, it is the City Daily Photo Bloggers 'Theme Day', so my allegiances are compromised!!

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 # 17

Last week I showed you a pair of Kohanin Hands from Rookwood. This week I am still in Rookwood but over on the Lidcombe side were the very first interments were made in 1867. I am a beginner at this funerary symbolism lark, but I am going from lists of symbols freely available via Google.

The wreath is a symbol of eternal life, with no beginning and with no end. The crown indicates victory, that is, triumph over death. But why angels? Do angels escort us on our journey to the Promised Land? And why two of them? And why are their eyes closed? And are their fingers pointing upward to the one true God in Heaven?

Any ideas?

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Welcome to the 17th 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. Mr Linky opens at 10pm Monday, Sydney time (GMT+10). 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.

We are working with the Linky with thumbnails, and displaying the oldest entry first, with no randomising.

Taphophile Tragics # 16

This funerary symbol can be found in the old Jewish area of Rookwood Cemetery in Sydney, just off Necropolis Drive, close to the intersection with William Lane. This is a Jewish symbol known as Kohanin, representing the members of the priestly tribe of Aaron. There are a range of spellings, eg Cohn, and Cohen. Hands in this formation are a priestly blessing. This symbol was adapted for use in 'Star Trek' where it became the Vulcan salute, meaning 'live long and prosper'. However, in this use, it was single handed.

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Welcome to the 16th 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. Mr Linky opens at 10pm Monday, Sydney time (GMT+10). 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.

So we are continuing with the Linky with thumbnails, and displaying the oldest entry first, with no randomising.

Taphophile Tragics # 15

Pukumani poles mark the burial sites of the Tiwi people of the Bathurst and Melville Islands. They are erected at the beginning of a long funeral ceremony known as the Pukumani ceremony. These poles are on display at the Australian Museum in College Street, Sydney, and have been acquired over the years from the islands, which are part of the Northern Territory. Ranging in height from 100 cm to 250 cm, the poles are sculpted and painted with a mixture of natural ochres and brightly coloured synthetic pigments.They are also called funerary poles, grave posts or 'tutini' in the local Torres Strait Island language.

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Welcome to the 15th 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. Mr Linky opens at 10pm Monday, Sydney time (GMT+10). 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.

I had a good experience with a different Linky over the weekend, so have changed Taphophile Tragics over to this new method. However, I have not implemented the 'random' facility, because, although fair, I found it tedious when trying to work out who to visit next. However, I am open to listening to your opinion on the topic of the Linky and its implementation.