Were your ancestors living in Sydney in the pre-Federation period - or do you want to learn more about what Sydney was like at this time? Then you may be interested in exploring vast range of records held by the Society of Australian Genealogists about the Camperdown Cemetery.

The collection includes detailed plans of the Camperdown Cemetery, the trustees' papers, two sets of transcriptions (compiled in 1957 and 1987) and information relating to the victims of the Dunbar and Catherine Adamson shipping disasters in 1857.

Camperdown Cemetery was established in 1849 because Sydney's main general cemetery - the Sydney Burial Ground - was reaching capacity, and additional burial sites were needed.

There have been no burials in Camperdown Cemetery since 1868 except for previously purchased gravesites. Hence burials continued after 1868 in small numbers, and continued into the early 1900s.

The cemetery has monuments for both the well-known and ordinary citizens of Sydney. These include the explorer Sir Thomas Mitchell; the victims of the 1857 Dunbar and Catherine Adamson shipping disasters; Eliza Hazeldene (a servant at Government House), and two infant children of NSW Premier, Sir Henry Parkes.

Camperdown Cemetery is located in the grounds of St Stephen’s Anglican Church, Newtown (in Church St) and open to the public daily.

Image: Camperdown Cemetery, SAG Manuscript and Image Collection, Item 5/101

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