The South Head General Cemetery is a heritage-listed cemetery located at 793 Old South Head Road, Vaucluse, New South Wales, Australia. It was built from 1845 to 1950. It is also known as Old South Head Cemetery and the South Head Cemetery. The property is Crown Land governed by Waverley Municipal Council. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 25 August 2017.
History Indigenous history South Head General Cemetery is located on the land of the Birrabirragal clan of the Dharug nation. As with most Aboriginal groups in Australia prior to European colonisation, the Birrabirragal people lived a traditional hunter-gatherer lifestyle that utilised the natural resources available in their environment to achieve the physical and spiritual nourishment to sustain their way of life. Evidence of the area's occupation by the Birrabirragal people is found in nearby areas such as Nielsen Park (Vaucluse), Cooper Park (Bellevue Hill) and Bondi.
Colonial history European exploration into the coastal region of eastern Sydney commenced in 1790 with the establishment of a signal station at South Head. A road from Sydney to South Head was built in 1811, and in 1816 a lighthouse was constructed at the signal station. This road became known as Old South Head Road when New South Head Road was built in the 1830s. Old South Head Road runs along the western side of the cemetery and meets New South Head Road near the entrance gates.
In 1841 the Reverend Lancelot Threlkeld became the Congregationalist minister at South Head, and requested the Governor make a land grant for a cemetery. The parish at that time consisted mainly of the fishing village of Watsons Bay. A land grant was reportedly made to Threlkeld by Governor Gipps in 1845. The Sydney Morning Herald noted on 9 September 1845: 'His Excellency the Governor has been pleased, in answer to a memorial from the inhabitants of South Head, to grant one acre of land for the purpose of a general cemetery for the interment of the dead, without any restrictions as to the religious persuasion of the deceased.'
Little can be gleaned from the documents of the cemetery on activities of the early Trust prior 1895 as the cemetery claims no records have survived. This leaves a gap in the record and provides a challenge to those today searching for people known to have been buried at South Head.
There is no evidence in newspapers of any burials in the cemetery before 1868 when the burial occurred on 27 February of Major Lee, a resident of Vaucluse. As this is the earliest burial that there is proof of. It is very likely that the Cemetery had many burials between 1845 and 1895.
Some earlier deaths were commemorated on later monuments, such as James Green, captain of the Dunbar which was wrecked off South Head in 1857. He is named on the gravestone of his brother Malcolm who died in 1904. In addition, a small number of earlier graves were moved to South Head Cemetery from the Devonshire Street Cemetery in 1901 at the time of the construction of Central railway station.
In the lands Dedication Book held at the State Archives, the first recorded trustees were appointed in 1870 by the Minister for Lands, Sir John Robertson. They were Thomas John Fisher (1813–1875, barrister and son-in-law of William Charles Wentworth of Vaucluse House), Joseph Scaife Willis (1808–1897, resident of "Greycliffe", Vaucluse), George Thorne (1810–1891, resident of "Claremont", now part of Rose Bay convent) and Edward Mason Hunt (1842–1899, barrister and resident of "The Hermitage", Vaucluse).
Although, it is likely that there were earlier trustees, as described in Dowd's 'History of Waverley' involved in setting out and fencing of the cemetery following the granting of land in 1845. Dowd lists these as Messrs. Siddons, Gibson, Jenkins, Bethel, Hosking and Fisher.
The original land grant of was formalised in 1872. This area was the south-eastern part of the present cemetery site, on the corner of Burge and Young Streets.Land title 501/752011. A further area of 3 roods and 36 perches was granted in 1890, west of the original grant and on the corner of Burge Street and Old South Head Road.Land title 113/752011. The final area added to the cemetery was 2 acres, 2 roods and 7 perches granted in 1902 which is to the north of the other two grants and on the corner of Old South Head Road and Young Street .Land title 7006/1023201.
The first funeral held at South Head for a public figure was that of Margaret, wife of Sir John Robertson, on 8 August 1889. Sir John was the Premier of New South Wales in 1860–61, 1868–70, 1875–77 and 1885–86, and his parliamentary career covered over 30 years from 1856 to 1886. Also in 1889 Sir John's 82-year-old Maori servant known as John Blanket was buried within the Robertson family vault. The inscription 'Sir John's Blanket' on the kerbing has been misunderstood by some writers as referring metaphorically to Sir John's grave as a "stone blanket", rather than to a named person buried within it. Sir John was buried with his wife on 10 May 1891, and the Singleton Argus of 13 May 1891 commented: "The cemetery itself, bleak and unornamented, is a dreary enough looking place, but its appearance on Sunday afternoon, with people walking about it, was almost weird." Sir John's body was conveyed by boat from Watsons Bay to Circular Quay from where the funeral procession proceeded back to South Head by road to allow the public to pay their respects along the route.
In 1895 the Trust appointed a Secretary, Edwin Stanhope Sautelle, who was also the Clerk and Engineer of Vaucluse Borough Council which was established in that year. By then the original Trustees had been replaced by others including Harold Francis Norrie (mayor of Vaucluse and local doctor) and J. A. Murray. A sexton's cottage had been built by 1895, when a newspaper report mentioned the sexton's wife assisting a visitor seeking Sir John Robertson's grave.
Post-Federation The tram line extension from Edgecliff to Watsons Bay opened in 1909 along New South Head Road, passing close by the cemetery. This line continued operating until 1960 when it was replaced by the 324 bus route. The tram made it easier for the public to travel to the cemetery from Sydney either to attend funerals or to visit graves.
After the death in office of New South Wales Governor Sir Walter Davidson he was buried in South Head Cemetery on 18 September 1923. Two years later in 1925, the Governor's remains were moved to the central avenue and a large Celtic cross monument was erected by public subscription. This event seems to have spurred the Trustees to undertake improvements, including the perimeter wall and gates. The main gates made from brass and bronze were designed by Edwin Sautelle and installed in 1924. An article in The Watchman newspaper on 13 August 1925 stated: 'In the last two or three years the trustees have spent over A£8,000, principally in substantial stone fences, cemented paths, etc.'
In 1926 the trustees had ambitious plans, with a proposal to expand the cemetery by acquiring around 17 acres extending south-eastwards to the coast. The Local Land Board approved the resumption of the area, but Waverley Municipal Council successfully appealed against the decision to the Land and Valuation Court. The move was opposed by Sir John Sulman, president of the Town Planning Association, who stated that the extension would block the proposed cliff walk and drive from The Gap (Watsons Bay) to Ben Buckler (North Bondi), and condemned the practice of having cemeteries in the middle of residential areas.
The South Head General Cemetery was the scene of a dramatic series of funerals in 1927, including twelve on one day, following the sinking of the ferry Greycliffe on Sydney Harbour with the loss of 40 lives. On 3 November the ferry was travelling from Circular Quay and Garden Island heading for Nielsen Park and Watsons Bay when it collided at 4.15 pm with the steamer Tahiti and sank. The 24 Greycliffe victims buried in South Head Cemetery are in individual graves.
In late 1937 Edwin Sautelle was discharged as Secretary of the Trust after 42 years' service. Along with this role he ran his own engineering firm and served on Vaucluse Council from 1912 to 1934 including three terms as Mayor. A subsequent audit revealed that up to A£40,000 was missing and in April 1938 Sautelle was charged with forging time sheets and stealing. He was convicted on six charges and sentenced to three years' imprisonment. This case signalled the end for the Trustees, and in 1939 the New South Wales parliament passed the South Head Cemetery Act which removed the trustees and authorised the Minister for Lands to appoint a single trustee in their place. The new trustee was Bruce Carlyle Hughes, the Inspector of Local Government Accounts. After two years a new group of trustees was appointed in 1941, including aldermen of Waverley and Vaucluse Councils. However less than six months later the trustees were removed and on 17 October 1941 Waverley Municipal Council was appointed sole trustee.
Waverley Council as trustee Waverley Council has continued to operate South Head Cemetery since 1941. The sexton's cottage was demolished after 1941 to create more space for burials, and was replaced with a smaller liver-brick amenities block in the 1950s. The addition of lawn graves from the late 1960s utilised the central avenue and other paths to increase the burial space within the cemetery. In 2011 residents expressed concern at the proposed removal of tuckeroo street trees (Cupaniopsis anacardioides) which were damaging the cemetery wall facing Burge Street. Council agreed to plant replacement trees and ensure they were growing before removing the original trees in 2014.Wentworth Courier, 10 August 2011 and 20 August 2014
Notable graves South Head General Cemetery contains the graves of many notable people, including: Henry Gibson, Captain (1809–1873) Pilot of Watson Bay starting in Oct 1840. Gibson's Beach Reserve in Watsons Bay is named for him. He was also one of the first Trustees of the South Head Cemetery upon the land being granted in 1845. Sir John Robertson (premier) Leila Waddell, also known as Laylah, (1880–1932) famed Scarlet Woman of Aleister Crowley and violinist Edmund Barton (1920), Australia's first Prime Minister William Baylebridge, poet and philosopher John Burcham Clamp (1931) Sir Joseph Carruthers (1932), Premier of NSW Frank Clune (1971), writer Sir Roden Cutler (2002), Governor of NSW Sir Walter Davidson (1923), Governor of NSW Robin Dods (1920), Neville Gruzman (2005) Sir Archibald Howie (1943), Lord Mayor of Sydney John Horbury Hunt (1904), government architect Howard Joseland (1930), George Washington Lambert (1930), artist Mortimer Lewis (1879), colonial architect Sir William Lyne (1913), Premier of NSW Sir Emmet McDermott (2002), Lord Mayor of Sydney Gladys Moncrieff (1976), entertainer Jack Moses (1945), writer Roy Redgrave (1922), actor Edmund Resch junior (1963), brewer Sir Richard Richards (1920), Lord Mayor of Sydney Sir John Robertson (1891), Premier of NSW Sir Allen Taylor (1940), Lord Mayor of Sydney "Red Ted" Theodore (1950), Queensland Premier and Federal Treasurer Sir Charles Wade (1922), Premier of NSW Sir Samuel Walder (1946), Lord Mayor of Sydney John Charles Wright (1933), Anglican Archbishop of Sydney members of the Fairfax, Norton, and Packer families members of the Foy family (including a monument to the disappeared Foy heiress, Juanita Nielsen) members of the Street family, including Sir Philip Whistler Street (1938) and Sir Kenneth Whistler Street (1972), both served as Chief Justice of NSW