Rookwood Cemetery Discoveries

 When I heard Queen Camilla would be attending a library in Sydney (she is a great advocator for reading) I thought this is the perfect segue for writing about a truly great man whose obsession has benefitted us all in NSW and in fact Australia, if not the world. DAVID SCOTT MITCHELL David was born on the 19th of March 1836 in Sydney, the only son of Dr James Mitchell, a physician of Scottish origin, and his wife Augusta, nee Scott. He had two sisters. He was in the first intake of 24 undergraduates at the newly established University of Sydney in 1856 and was admitted to the Bar in 1858 but never practised the law or any other paid profession. During his twenties he led a carefree existence and a busy social life indulging in cricket, dancing, cards, debating as well as writing poetry and performed in amateur dramatics. His father was a wealthy man who had acquired large land interests in the Hunter Valley, in the Branxton and Cessnock area, where coal was found.  At the age ...

  Many formidable and inspirational women who forged a way forward call Rookwood "home". There are many who participated in Women's Suffrage and those who were actively leaders of the movement. One I wish to honour today, if not completely forgotten, is a woman we need to be reminded of in regard to the influence she had to be able to bring about real change for the benefit of women. So, in honour of International Women's Day, I hereby bring you. ROSE SCOTT Rose was born in October1847, one of eight children to Helenus Scott and his wife Sarah Anne "Suranna" nee Rusden in the Singleton area. She lived in barracks at Newcastle where her father was the Police Magistrate from 1857. Rose was home-schooled and groomed to marry but she had other ideas. Rose stated that her independent views came about early and were cemented by a reading of Shakespeare's “The Taming of the Shrew”. From then the play shaped her attitudes to men and marriage. She often...