Eastern Suburbs Memorial Park, Eastern Suburbs Crematorium and Botany General Cemetery (aka Botany Cemetery), is a

cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite or graveyard is a place where the remains of dead people are buried or otherwise interred. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek , "sleeping place") implies that the land is specifically designated as a buri ...

and

crematorium A crematorium or crematory is a venue for the cremation of the dead. Modern crematoria contain at least one cremator (also known as a crematory, retort or cremation chamber), a purpose-built furnace. In some countries a crematorium can also be ...

on Bunnerong Road in Matraville, New South Wales, in the

eastern suburbs Eastern Suburbs may refer to: Places *Eastern Suburbs (Mumbai), India *Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), Australia **Eastern Suburbs railway line, Sydney, Australia Sports clubs ;Association football *Eastern Suburbs AFC, Auckland, New Zealand * Eastern ...

district of

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, Australia. Land was dedicated as a cemetery site in 1888, with the first interment recorded at Botany Cemetery on 21 August 1893. The Bunnerong Cemetery (opened in 1888), and the Eastern Suburbs Crematorium (opened 1938) were merged with Botany Cemetery in 1972. There are more than 65,000 people buried there. A memorial park, Pioneer Park, is also within the grounds.

History and management

Matraville Eastern Suburbs Memorial Park 2

Matraville Eastern Suburbs Memorial Park 3

Pioneer Memorial Park Plaque - Botany Cemetery

The cemetery was created as Bunnerong Cemetery in 1888, in order to accommodate unclaimed

remains Remains or The Remains may refer to: Music *The Remains (band), a 1960s American rock band *The Ramainz, originally The Remains, a Ramones tribute band Albums * ''Remains'' (Alkaline Trio album), 2007 * ''Remains'' (Annihilator album), 1997 * ' ...

from the

Devonshire Street Cemetery The Devonshire Street Cemetery (also known as the Brickfield Cemetery or Sandhills Cemetery) was located between Eddy Avenue and Elizabeth Street, and between Chalmers and Devonshire Streets, at Brickfield Hill, in Sydney, Australia. It was con ...

. It was merged with the Botany Cemetery (opened 1893) in 1972. When the ''Botany Cemetery and Crematorium Act 1972'' came into effect on 1 September 1972, Botany Cemetery and the Eastern Suburbs Crematorium were managed by the Botany Cemetery Trust and the Eastern Suburbs Crematorium Trust respectively. This act was repealed by the ''Cemeteries and Crematoria Act 2013'', which came into effect on 24 October 2014 and created the Cemeteries and Crematoria NSW agency, which governs all cemeteries and crematoria in NSW. The Chairman of the Eastern Suburbs Memorial Park Board from 1 January 2005 to 3 August 2012 was the former police chief inspector and Mayor of Waverley, John Douglas Morrison. The cemetery is managed by ''Southern Metropolitan Cemeteries NSW'' (officially "Southern Metropolitan Cemeteries Land Manager"), consisting of Woronora Memorial Park and Eastern Suburbs Memorial Park, which replaced the Botany Cemetery Trust and Eastern Suburbs Crematorium Trust upon gazettal on 3 August 2012.

Eastern Suburbs Crematorium

Designed in 1937 in the Inter-war Art Deco style by architect Louis Leighton Robertson of Louis S. Robertson & Son, architects, and built by Lipscombe & Price, master builders of

Bowral Bowral () is the largest town in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia, about ninety minutes southwest of Sydney. It is the main business and entertainment precinct of the Wingecarribee Shire and Highlands. Bowral once served ...

, the crematorium was praised as "dignified in classic lines, the design will be relieved by flutings of the columns and moulded panels". Robertson also designed crematoriums in a similar style at

Woronora Woronora is a suburb in southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Woronora is located 27 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the Sutherland Shire. Woronora Heights is a ...

(1934), Kembla Grange (1955), and

Beresfield Beresfield is a north-western suburb of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia from Newcastle's central business district. It is part of the City of Newcastle local government area. Population According to the 2016 census of Population, ...

(1936). The crematorium was officially opened on 8 May 1938, by the local Member of Parliament for Botany, Bob Heffron, who later served as

Premier of New South Wales The premier of New South Wales is the head of government in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The Government of New South Wales follows the Westminster Parliamentary System, with a Parliament of New South Wales acting as the legislature. ...

and was buried in the crematorium grounds on his death in 1978.

War graves

There are many graves commemorated by the

Commonwealth War Graves Commission The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) is an intergovernmental organisation of six independent member states whose principal function is to mark, record and maintain the graves and places of commemoration of Commonwealth of Nations mil ...

and maintained by the

Office of Australian War Graves The Office of Australian War Graves (OAWG) is a branch within the Australian Government Department of Veterans' Affairs. The branch was initially a stand-alone agency, formed 1 January 1975. In 1980, the ''War Graves Act 1980 (Cth)'' formalised t ...

in locations spread throughout the Eastern Suburbs Memorial Park. The Botany General Cemetery section contains 157 burials: five Commonwealth burials of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and 150 burials of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. There are also two Dutch Second World War burials maintained on behalf of the Dutch War Cemetery Organisation (Oorlogsgravenstichting). The Crematorium section contains 31 burials of the Second World War, comprising 30 Australian and one British burial. These include five

Royal Australian Air Force "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

servicemen killed in an

Avro Anson The Avro Anson is a British twin-engined, multi-role aircraft built by the aircraft manufacturer Avro. Large numbers of the type served in a variety of roles for the Royal Air Force (RAF), Fleet Air Arm (FAA), Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) a ...

crash at RAAF Richmond in December 1939. The remains of four Japanese sailors killed and recovered from the May 1942

Attack on Sydney Harbour In late May and early June 1942, during World War II, Imperial Japanese Navy submarines made a series of attacks on the Australian cities of Sydney and Newcastle. On the night of 31 May – 1 June, three ''Ko-hyoteki''-class midget submarine ...

were cremated and stored in the columbarium of the Crematorium until they were able to be returned to Japan by the returning Japanese Minister,

Tatsuo Kawai was a Japanese diplomat and author. He was a leading proponent of expansionism in Japan before World War II but later became a pacifist and was Japan's first Minister to Australia. Early years Kawai was born in Fukuyama, Hiroshima Prefecture, ...

, in August 1942.

Pioneer Park

Pioneer Park contains historic headstones which were relocated from

in 1901 to make space for Central railway station. At that time, thousands of graves and 2825 tombstones of the first settlers in Australia were moved to the new cemetery at La Perouse, named Bunnerong Cemetery. In 1976, the Botany Cemetery Trust removed a large number most of these monuments by creating a new, low maintenance lawn area. The remaining 746 headstones were reinstalled in concrete strips, unrelated to the graves below. The new lawn was named Pioneer Memorial Park. In May 2016 a series of statues were installed in this section to commemorate the

First Fleet The First Fleet was a fleet of 11 ships that brought the first European and African settlers to Australia. It was made up of two Royal Navy vessels, three store ships and six convict transports. On 13 May 1787 the fleet under the command ...

, with 12 of the 746 monuments in the park recording people who arrived on the First Fleet.

Notable interments

Albert Burge Albert Bentley "Son" Burge (4 June 1889 – 4 January 1943) was an Australian rugby union lock who played with the Souths rugby union club in Sydney and at the age of nineteen was selected for the Australian national team in two Tests against Ne ...

(1889–1943), early rugby league and rugby union player *

Barney Dalton Bernard Hugh Dalton (1891 – 9 November 1929) was an Australian pioneer rugby league player In the Australian competition – the New South Wales Rugby League. He was born in 1891 in Sydney. Rugby league career A Rugby league positions, winge ...

(1891-1929), former

Eastern Suburbs Eastern Suburbs may refer to: Places *Eastern Suburbs (Mumbai), India *Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), Australia **Eastern Suburbs railway line, Sydney, Australia Sports clubs ;Association football *Eastern Suburbs AFC, Auckland, New Zealand * Eastern ...

rugby league player and gangster who was aligned with

Kate Leigh Kathleen Mary Josephine Leigh (née Beahan; 10 March 1881 – 4 February 1964) (other names included Kathleen Barry, and Kathleen Ryan) was an Australian underworld figure who rose to prominence as a madam, illegal trader of alcohol and cocaine ...

during the 1920s "razor wars" * John Dacey (1854–1912), Member of the NSW Legislative Assembly (1895–1912), Minister and namesake of

Daceyville Daceyville (formerly Dacey Garden Suburb) is a suburb in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Daceyville is 7 km south of the Sydney central business district and is now part of Bayside Council (formerl ...

* James Dooley (1877–1950), Member of the NSW Legislative Assembly (1907–1927), and Premier of New South Wales (1921, 1921–1922) * Bill Dunn (1877–1951), Member of the NSW Legislative Assembly (1910–1950) and Minister *

Jock Garden John Smith "Jock" Garden (13 August 188231 December 1968) was an Australian clergyman, trade unionist and politician. He was one of the founders of the Communist Party of Australia. Early life Garden was born on 13 August 1882 in Nigg, Aberd ...

(1882–1968), Member of the Australian House of Representatives (1934–1937), trade unionist and founder of the

Communist Party of Australia The Communist Party of Australia (CPA), known as the Australian Communist Party (ACP) from 1944 to 1951, was an Australian political party founded in 1920. The party existed until roughly 1991, with its membership and influence having been i ...

* Bob Heffron (1890–1978), Member of the NSW Legislative Assembly (1930–1968) and Premier of New South Wales (1959–1964) *

Bede Kenny Thomas James Bede Kenny, VC (29 September 1896 – April 1953) was an Australian recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. He was 20 years o ...

(1896–1953), 1917 recipient of the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...

Clarrie Martin Major Clarence Edward Martin (2 February 1900 – 5 September 1953) was an Australian politician and a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1930 until 1932 and from 1939 until his death in 1953. He was variously a member of ...

(1900–1953), Member of the NSW Legislative Assembly and Attorney General (1941–1953) * Joseph Maxwell (1896–1967), 1918 recipient of the Victoria Cross *

Arthur Stace Arthur Malcolm Stace (9 February 1885 – 30 July 1967), known as Mr Eternity, was an Australian soldier. He was an alcoholic from his teenage years until the early 1930s, when he converted to Christianity and began to spread his message by ...

(1885–1967), former soldier famous as the ''Eternity'' pavement scribe *

Edward Milner Stephen Edward is an English given name. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements '' ēad'' "wealth, fortune; prosperous" and '' weard'' "guardian, protector”. History The name Edward was very popular in Anglo-Sax ...

(1870–1939), Alderman of the City of Sydney (1900–1927), NSW Supreme Court judge (1929–1939) *

Ernest Tresidder Ernest Philip Tresidder (30 April 1875 – 9 March 1951) was an Australian politician He was born at Bendigo to William Prideaux Tresidder and Elizabeth Jane, ''née'' White. He attended Bendigo Public School before becoming a pastry cook, ...

(1875–1951), Mayor of Randwick, Member of the NSW Legislative Assembly and Alderman of Randwick and City of Sydney councils *

Blair Wark Blair Anderson Wark, (27 July 1894 – 13 June 1941) was an Australian recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest decoration for gallantry "in the face of the enemy" that can be awarded to members of the British and other Commonwealth armed ...

(1894–1941), 1918 recipient of the Victoria Cross *

(1881-1964),

Gangster involved in the Razor Wars of the 1920's and 1930's.

References

External links

Eastern Suburbs Memorial Park
{{Authority control 1888 establishments in Australia Buildings and structures in Sydney * Cemeteries in Sydney Crematoria in Australia