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Balmain Cemetery was a cemetery in Leichhardt, New South Wales, Australia (the area is very close to the present day Sydney suburb of Balmain). The Pioneers Memorial Park now stands in its place.

History

When the estate of Balmain was laid out in 1852, concerns were raised about the failure to reserve land for a cemetery and for parkland.

In August 1863, a meeting of local residents sought to establish a cemetery in Balmain. It was proposed to fund the development of the cemetery by residents subscribing £1 entitling them to one grave plot (or multiples thereof). The government would then match the funds raised by the community. The land would be apportioned into sections for different religions with some land reserved for general use. Although the majority were in favour of the idea, there was opposition to the plan, based on objections of hygiene, the poor use of land (given the expectation that the area would become densely populated), and that it might impede the development of a future highway.

Permission to enable the creation of a cemetery was passed by Parliament in 1864. The Balmain Cemetery Company (a group of five people) was established in the 1860s and purchased a block of land bounded by Derbyshire Road, Allen Street, Norton Street, and William Street (approximately 11 acres). The Balmain Cemetery Company applied for rights over the property in 1880. The cemetery opened in 1868. In 1886 the cemetery was transferred to the Leichhardt Municipal Council. The cemetery was closed in 1912 with over ten thousand burials.

Pioneers Memorial Park

For the next two decades, a proposal to redevelop the cemetery as a public park was debated. In 1941, it was decided to replace the cemetery with parkland (called Pioneers Memorial Park). The plans were advertised and families were invited to arrange for re-interment of bodies or removal of memorials. As a consequence, the memorial to Robert Towns (the founder of Townsville, Queensland) was relocated to Castle Hill in Townsville. The memorial for Edmund Blacket and his wife Sarah were relocated to Camperdown Cemetery.

Notable people buried in Balmain Cemetery

• Edmund Blacket, architect
• William Salmon Deloitte, merchant
• Robert D. FitzGerald, botanist
• James Gorman (VC)
• Robert McIntosh Isaacs, politician
• Ninian Melville, politician
• Henry Beaufoy Merlin, photographer, illusionist, artist
• Morris Birkbeck Pell, mathematician
• Ferdinand Hamilton Reuss, architect
• Thomas Stephenson Rowntree, master mariner and shipbuilder
• Robert Towns, founder of Townsville, Queensland
• Mary Reibey, merchant, shipowner and trader
• Charles Frederick Young, actor and comedian

References

1. "Balmain". The Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 13 March 1852. p. 4.
2. "Cemetery at Balmain". The Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 14 August 1863. p. 5.
3. "Municipality of Balmain". New South Wales Government Gazette. No. 65. 5 April 1864. p. 811 – via National Library of Australia.
4. "Notice is hereby given that it is the intention of James Martyn Combes, Alexander Henry Brown, and Barbara Patten". New South Wales Government Gazette. No. 416. 29 October 1880. p. 5601 – via National Library of Australia.
5. "Government Gazette Notices". Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales. No. 175. New South Wales, Australia. 6 December 1911. p. 6462 – via National Library of Australia.
6. Mack, Tricia. "Balmain Cemetery". Retrieved 21 December 2013.
7. ^ "Balmain Cemetery". Leichhardt City Council. Archived from the original on 15 February 2018. Retrieved 21 December 2013.
8. Choat, Colin. "Camperdown Cemetery, New South Wales-Transfers". gutenberg.net.au. Retrieved 1 October 2017.
9. "The Late Mr. E. T. Blacket". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 14, 001. New South Wales, Australia. 12 February 1883. p. 5 – via National Library of Australia.
10. "Family Notices". The Sydney Morning Herald. Vol. LXII, no. 10, 162. New South Wales, Australia. 15 December 1870. p. 8 – via National Library of Australia.
11. "Family Notices". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 16, 972. New South Wales, Australia. 13 August 1892. p. 16 – via National Library of Australia.
12. "Death of a Naval Veteran in". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 13, 904. New South Wales, Australia. 21 October 1882. p. 9 – via National Library of Australia.
13. "News of the Day". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 12, 826. New South Wales, Australia. 12 May 1879. p. 4 – via National Library of Australia.

External links

• Balmain Cemetery Memorial Website - a history of the cemetery, with a register of burials and even a film showing the headstones being removed and repurposed in the 1940s.
• Inner West Council - Pioneers Memorial Park

• Cemeteries in Sydney
• 1868 establishments in Australia
• 1912 disestablishments in Australia
• Cemeteries established in the 1860s