Rookwood Cemetery Discoveries

  Today's blog pays tribute to a Master of Architecture whose name has been forgotten somewhat in the pages of time. Many of his creations still stand proudly. JOHN FRANCIS HENNESSY (SNR) John was born on the 21st of April 1853 in Leeds England, the son of Bryan Hennessy and his wife, Ellen who had moved to Leeds from Cork in Ireland. The family were relatively well off as they could boast a domestic servant in a subsequent census. After passing the Oxford senior local examination in 1868, John was articulated to William Perkin & Son, architects and surveyors of Leeds. He completed his articles in 1875 and won a three-year studentship at the Royal Institute of British Architects which allowed him to study in London under the tutorage of many distinguished architects of the day. William Burges, a leading figure in Gothic revival, was obviously a strong influence as that style became Hennessy's trademark. After six month's study in Spain, he worked in leading archit

 Today's blog is the follow up I promised when I wrote about Nina Eva Vida Jones - the racing car driver (click on the tag of her name to read that blog). I said that she came from a family that included Matthew Harris and his father John (and more) that originated in this country from the early days of the colony. THE HARRIS FAMILY (pre Nina Eva Vida Jones nee Harris) Nina was the daughter of William Henry Harris and Susan Mary Newton Clarke, both parents of Irish descent. William came to Australia with his parents John and Nancy Ann and was the youngest of six children. John, a merchant, had inherited wealth from his uncle, a well renown early Colonial, and migrated to this country to manage his legacy. That uncle was John Harris, a member of the NSW Corps, appointed a surgeon who arrived in the Colony with the ill-fated Second Fleet in 1790. The Second Fleet consisted of three ships where convicts were mistreated, rations were poor and sickness rife with over 25% dying o

 Last week's blog was formed from a glance at a beautifully carved monument. This week's blog is following on from that same idea. The headstone is very close to last week's one and quite unique in its design. The families from which the people buried there came from were prominent ones from the earliest days of the colony. DAVID HENRY DUNLOP David, the eldest child of David Dunlop (Snr) and Eliza Hamilton was born in Londonderry Northern Ireland on 12 May 1794. He joined his parents, and 3 siblings onboard the 'Superb' arriving in Botany Bay on 26 February 1838. David Snr, although a bookseller in Ireland, was appointed a Magistrate in Penrith for a short time before being appointed to the position of Police Magistrate and Protector of Aborigines in Wollombi NSW in 1839, a position he held for ten years. He was the youngest son of Captain William Dunlop who had lost his life in the Irish Rebellion of ’98. Eliza, his wife, was the daughter of Solomon Hamilton, Supre

  After a morning of pulling weeds in the BB Rose Garden, which the volunteer group the Helping Hands helps maintain, the heat and humidity just got to me, so I went in search of shady graves to tidy. As usual, I became distracted and found myself once again acquainted with a group of beautiful headstones well carved by talented stonemasons. I decided to finally discover the stories behind them (or rather underneath them) and became immersed in tales of early colonial Sydney. Today's blog is about a young man who was apprenticed to a prominent man previously mentioned twice in these pages who died 150 years ago. WILLIAM JAMIESON SHERWIN William Jamieson was born in 1804 in Parramatta NSW one of ten children to William Sherwin and his common law wife, Mary Duggan. But I digress for a short while…. William Snr, was a Sergeant in the NSW Corps, arriving in Sydney aboard the “Pitt” with his first wife Ann and son, John. It wasn’t long before a scandal involving his wife a