Rookwood Cemetery Discoveries

  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...

  With all the talk of electric cars and other forms of renewable energy (with resistance to their introduction by some rather large companies who have other vested interests), I think it's time to revisit an invention by an immigrant to this country. His ideas in the 1970's could (and should) have flown. YULL BROWN – Political prisoner, refugee and inventor Yull, or Ilia Valkov, his real name, was born on the 6th of April 1922 in a small village close to Varna, Bulgaria. He showed a keen interest in technology from an early age but as a teenager served in the Bulgarian Navy. Later he moved to Sofia and studied electrical engineering at Sofia Polytechnic but after the coup on the 9th of September 1944 he was accused of tuning into foreign radio stations, spying on his own country, declared an "enemy of the State" and was sent to a concentration camp on Belene in 1948 where he served four years. After that time, he worked in the mine at the Labor Education Dormitor...

  For today's blog I wish to highlight a man, I believe, who used up all his nine lives in one go, became a successful businessman and the reason why a large memorial is situated on a busy road in the nearby suburb of Carlingford. CHARLES ALBERT HARRY FREESTONE Charles was born on 15th March 1896, the youngest child of four of Charles Freestone, a travelling salesman and his wife Harriet. Harriet died soon after his birth and Charles brought up his four children in Chelmsford Essex England. He joined the Navy as soon as he was able, and his first service date was the 23rd of January 1912 on board the ‘Impregnable’ as a "boy". Earlier at the beginning of the century, the First Sea Lord, Admiral Fisher, foresaw the need to develop submarines as an offensive weapon which was criticised as being the weapon of weaker nations and seen as underhand warfare weapon. However, they needed to be developed as other nations were doing so. By 1913 Fisher requested that the Direc...

 We are in Women's History Month and soon International Women's Day on the 8th of March.  Today I have chosen a woman I wasn't aware of until a few years ago when I was contacted via social media and informed of this person's incredible life. One of many hidden gems calling Rookwood "home" ELIZABETH (ELIZA) WALLACE BUSHELLE - Singer, Survivor. Elizabeth, or Eliza as she was commonly known, was born on the 7th of February 1820 in Ballina, Country Mayo, Ireland to Spencer and Margaret Wallace. Aged ten years she was accepted at the exclusive Ursuline Convent School at Thurles where she impressed the nuns not merely by singing an aria by Rossini but also playing violin and piano. The family emigrated to Australia in 1835; William, Elizabeth's elder composer and pianist brother had already set sail for these shores, and they all travelled as free emigrants. The family arrived in Hobart and in January 1836 moved to Sydney where the Wallaces opened the first Aus...

  Coming from a family of seafarers with both his grandfather, his father's grandfather, four grand-uncles and about a dozen cousins being master mariners the subject of this week's blog was destined for a life at sea. WILLIAM CARGILL William was the second son of Captain John Cargill of Aberdeen Scotland and his wife, Mary (nee Duthie). Amongst his many accomplishments at sea, his father had the honour of commanding the Royal Yacht to Aberdeen when Queen Victoria made her first visit to Balmoral in September 1848. William, at the age of 13, accompanied his father during his winter vacation, on the City of London steamship in November 1854 when a terrible storm burst in the harbour of Balaclava where many vessels are destroyed on the rocks. The City of London, under steam, slipped her cable and stood out to sea escaping the battering without any loss. William was not put off by this disastrous event and three years later entered his naval career. He commenced with time on...

  Today's blog is a follow up to the one I wrote about Jane Catherine Tost, taxidermist, way back in 2022. (If you wish to acquaint yourself with that blog before reading this follow up, please click onto the name tag of Jane Catherine Tost at the end of this blog).  In that blog I mentioned that her Jane's son Charles Goutliffe Jnr and son-in-law, James Coates were killed fighting a fire at the Prince of Wales Theatre in 1872 and that is the focus of today's blog. PRINCE OF WALES THEATRE FIRE From newspaper reports at the time, it would appear that in the early hours of Saturday the 6th of January 1872, the Prince of Wales Theatre in Castlereagh Street Sydney near King Street caught fire rapidly. A full house the previous night had seen "The House that Jack Built" and all had left the theatre. The alarm was raised about 3.30am but firemen were virtually helpless against the fire's ferocity which was believed to have started in the property room were ...