A unique Mausoleum of sheer magnificence
I joined the Friends of Rookwood over 10 years ago after undertaking a couple of tours of the Cemetery and promptly fell in love with its fascinating history and that of the inhabitants. The Friends use all the funds raised from those tours, talks etc. to go towards funding restoration programs within the Cemetery and I have seen many headstones and monuments restored. The big passion project of the Friends since its inception decades ago was to restore the largest mausoleum within the Cemetery that had been gifted to the authorities to do as they thought best. The restoration was constantly brought up in meetings and talks but as the years went by and costs blew out it seemed an impossibility that the Mausoleum would be brought back to any of its original magnificence.
Last Tuesday I attended the
official reopening of the Frazer Mausoleum recently restored with major funding
from the NSW Government and input from the Rookwood General Cemetery now part
of the Metropolitan Memorial Parks. The excellent stonemasonry work was carried
out by the team led by Sach Killam, stone mason extraordinaire, who arrived from
Canada also over 10 years ago, went on a tour and saw what he could offer to
a cemetery that was in need of a lot of care.
Today's blog is about the
man who wanted his family to be together in death as well as in life and its
extraordinary history and restoration - in a very succinct form.
JOHN FRAZER AND THE FRAZER
MAUSOLEUM
John was born in County
Down, Ireland in 1827 to John Frazer Senior and Sarah Ann nee Waddell. He
arrived in Sydney as a bounty immigrant in 1842 with a brother and two sisters.
He was listed as a carpenter and joiner.
John visited the rural areas
to investigate squatting then worked as a clerk. He opened his own grocery
business in 1847 and married Elizabeth Ewan in 1853. Her two sisters married William
Manson and James Watson and together with her brother James they were to become
John's friends and business partners. His grocery business was thriving but
burnt down in 1865; John learnt from that event and rebuilt in stone adding the
latest fire-fighting equipment. About this time, he speculated in land in
Queensland and before long had 4 runs and had 18 in partnership.
With the extra wealth he
needed a more prestigious home and he and his family lived in Ranelagh in Potts
Point and around 1874 bought Quiraing in Edgecliff. He had a number of
directorships in insurance companies and banks as well as the Australian
Gaslight Co.
John retired from his own
business in 1869, and the following year visited England. After first refusing,
he accepted nomination to the Legislative Council. He was appointed a
magistrate in 1875 but citing mental weariness after the death of three of his
children in infancy in the early 1860’s, he sailed for England with Elizabeth
and the rest of his family. He returned briefly but went back to England only
to return once more as he became homesick for Australia.
His despair after his 3
children died made John prepare plans for a grand Mausoleum so that all the
family could be together in death. John Frazer died at his home, Quiraing, on
the 25th of October 1884 at the age of 57.
John Frazer drinking fountain in Hyde Park - City of Sydney archives.
Frazer Memorial Presbyterian Church, Springwood - Churches Australia
After his death Elizabeth
took the reins in organising her husband’s grand plan of a family mausoleum.
She purchased 9 plots in the Presbyterian area of the Cemetery months after he
died. An English architect was chosen and the building of the mausoleum that
took 10 years, began and was completed in 1894.
The Frazer Mausoleum is the
only one of its kind in Rookwood or Australia. It is built from Pyrmont
sandstone with its distinctive yellow tinge, has carved Bronze doors with the
initials JF and EF, curved lead light windows, a massive dome topped with a
cross that provided ventilation and grotesques with gargoyles that spouted
water from their pipes which went into drainage areas below. There were 3 huge
alabaster bath like containers that contained the various lead lined coffins;
the inscription plates were dark and light green marble with white veins
running through the stone with inscriptions in plaster of Paris. The building
was surrounded by a small fence topped by a wrought iron balustrade with flower
post finials of different shapes and sizes, some that may have spun freely. The
Fence is in the shape of a teardrop. Cypress trees were planted as well as a
strawberry tree after the clan name Fraser was derived from “fraise” which relates to a strawberry. The name
Fraser became Frazer in regards to those family members who went to Ireland. A
truly unique building.
Frazer Mausoleum exterior steps - Wikipedia Commons
No expense was spared.
The last internment in the
Mausoleum was Elizabeth upon her death in 1914. The Mausoleum was then
complete.
The Mausoleum remained
closed and bore witness to the varying times of the Cemetery in its heyday
where it became more than just a place to bury the dead but a destination in a
beautiful garden setting – a place to take the special train and have a picnic!
It also saw the time of the decline of the Necropolis, the funeral train
ending, the mortuary station removed and rebuilt elsewhere and the decline of
gardeners over the decades. The Mausoleum was subject to vandalism which was
rife during the 1960’s and 1970’s, with its beautiful stonework being graffitied
and the windows broken allowing pigeons to nest.
2017 photo showing broken leadlight windows and pigeon damage - author's own collection
In the early 1970’s the only
family member still residing in Australia, decided to give up responsibility of repairing
and maintaining the mausoleum and had all the bodies removed and cremated. It
was gifted to the Rookwood General Cemetery who did minor repairs to stop
further damage by birdlife and contemplated what could be done with the Mausoleum
besides maintaining it and opening it on special days.
The Friends of Rookwood from
its earliest days made it a priority to have this wonderful piece of Victorian
architecture restored. It was always a little too hard and costs were
escalating but a few years ago positive feedback started to trickle through. Once
the decision was made to restore, work began in earnest and so it led to the
triumphant reopening of the restored Frazer Mausoleum.
During the restoration it
was found that the Dome was a masterpiece of construction with the tiniest
element for error, the cross had a number of holes underneath which acted as
further ventilation and that curved leadlight windows are incredibly rare.
The Dome after restoration - the light shines in through the restored windows - authors own collection
old interior photo from 2017 showing broken sarcophagus - author's own collection.
Restored sarcophagus with inscription plate - author's own collection
Kudos to all involved in
this wonderful restoration!
For today’s blog I have
referenced ancestry.com, the Australian Dictionary of Biography, NSW Parliament
website, Wikipedia and Trove.
The Friends of Rookwood
produced a sizeable booklet last year titled “The Frazer Mausoleum – Rookwood
Cemetery’s Grand Mausoleum” that details the magnificence of the mausoleum and
also extensive notes of the Frazer family. I have to say this publication is
excellent and no doubt contributed getting the restoration project over the line.
You can purchase a copy for $25 plus p&p of $12.95 nationally. Just send a
note to Friends of Rookwood Inc. P O Box 66 Lidcombe NSW 1825 or you can
purchase a book at a Friend’s tour day – last one for this year is this Sunday
3rd November 2024 (Military Tour departing 10am outside ST Michael
the Archangel Chapel – see Friends of Rookwood website for more information –
I’ll be there!)
Friends of Rookwood publication booklet
There is so much I could write about in relation to the Frazer Mausoleum, but it would not be suitable for this blog as it would be far too extensive.
I encourage you to have a
look at the exterior work on the Mausoleum next time you visit the cemetery or take
a tour with the Friends of Rookwood who will have access to it on various tour
days.
If you have any comments or insights about the Mausoleum, please add them below or at the Group facebook page found under
rookwood cemetery discoveries
or send me a personal message via
lorainepunch@gmail.com
ntil next week
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