Rookwood Cemetery Discoveries

  It's New Year's Eve so let's reflect on who has been revealed in Rookwood Cemetery Discoveries in 2023. The year has been filled with many published blogs about people who chose a life of service helping others as well as those who chose not to; tragedies that were heartbreaking and secrets and scandals that shocked us. A view of the Old Catholic section - author's own collection  My most popular blog was the one devoted to Lucy Farrow, mother of John Villiers Farrow, Hollywood producer and film maker and grandmother of Mia Farrow. The next most popular was that of the murder of Leticia Frances Cavanagh and followed by the Banka ferry disaster and slaughter of innocents. You also liked the story of the "bad" mother of Macdonaldtown, Sarah Makin. Henry Shiell, the City Coroner, was a popular read as was one about the secrets and scandals found in Section One of the Old Anglican Section. It seems I will need to find more titillating material to engage ...

 On 15th April it was the 111th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic - a massive ship that its maker claimed was unsinkable. Today's blog is about a man who survived the sinking and made his home in Australia. WILLIAM JOHN MURDOCK(H)  William was born in Great Clifton, Cumberland, England in September 1874, the eldest of eight children to Nathaniel Murdoch, ironworker, and his wife, Annie who originated from Northern Ireland. By the time of his thirteenth birthday the family had returned to Belfast.  William became a fireman and went on to marry Catherine Robson, also from Belfast, in February 1901. They had four children but tragically the youngest born in 1907 only lived for a few short months.  At the 1911 census, the family were residing at the Belfast address of Catherine's widowed mother, Margaret, and he was described as a labourer. Murdock first signed on to the Titanic on 29th March 1912 for her delivery trip from Belfast to Southampton. William obvious...