The history of Bungonia Cemetery NSW

Bungonia Cemetery is an important part of the area's history as well as a family's ancestry. It is a powerful connection of the past with the present and can help us understand the deep connections of families to the present day.

The first known burial at the Bungonia cemetery was in 1836.

There are also three known burial sites outside the cemetery, at Inverary, Brisbane Meadow, and Jacqua. The first known burials in the district were at the old Inverary settlement, beside the lock−up on the property of Reevesdale. In 1900 there were at least 6 graves 30 metres north of the lock−up but all trace of them has gone.

One of the remaining headstones has been affixed to the wall of the lock−up building ensuring its preservation. The inscription reads "William Colvin who departed this life on 31st. March, 1836 aged 57... erected by his deploring widow" (Martha Dailey).

Louisa Huon de Kerrilleau and her son−in−law, William Mitchell (Dame Nellie Melba's grandfather) are buried on Brisbane Meadow, a property on the Look−Down Road. The iron−railed graves can be seen on a small hillock as you look westward from the road. Jane Sedley Futter, who died in 1866 aged 36, is buried on private property on a hill behind Jacqua Homestead.

Researching your family history at our Cemetery

The origins of Bungonia Cemetery

The land for the Bungonia cemetery was given by Robert and Margaret Futter of Lumley Park (original grant area called Jacqua), who arrived in the district in 1824.

He was a member of the Legislative Assembly and a magistrate, and his property was visited by Edward Eyre (explorer), Conrad Martens (Colonial artist), and Governor Bourke.

The first recorded burial in the cemetery was that of their son, Robert Lumley Futter, aged 11 years and 2 months, who was buried on 20th December, 1836. Robert (senior) died just 3 years after his son 1839 at age 46 and is buried in the cemetery.

The graves of three other original settlers are also in the cemetery, in family enclosures:

• Ann Styles (1872), Reevesdale; age 69
• James Richard Styles (1884); age 86
• David Reid (1840); Magistrate, Surgeon 2nd Fleet; age 65
  

Some of the other graves are those of the early pioneering families include:

• Anne Armstrong (1841); age 28
• Hugh O'Donnell (1843); age 42
• Mary Anne Baker (1844); age 50 [from Bronte towards Tarago]
  

The cemetery is held in trust by the Anglican Church of Australia and the Catholic Church, and is administered by the Bungonia Progress Association, a group of local volunteers. Bishop Broughton dedicated the Anglican portion on 20th May, 1839 and Bishop Polding, accompanied by Father Michael McGrath, blessed the Catholic portion on 19th August, 1840.

The cemetery was surveyed in 1920 and a map drawn up showing the sections and plots. Although a Presbyterian portion of one acre was set aside on 27th September, 1844 in favour of David Reid, Thomas Hopkins, John Drummond, Donald McKay and David Pellingham, “trustees of the Presbyterian Burial Ground, Bungonia", there is no record of anyone buried there.

The portion is on the eastern side of Woodwards’ (Jones') Creek, quite removed from the rest of the cemetery and inaccessible via the right of way from the Windellama Road.

Some of the older residents said that an area of ground was set aside for those who could not or did not want to be buried in the Catholic, Anglican or Presbyterian portions. The location is unknown.

All burial plots are free and cutting the grass and control of noxious weeds is done by local volunteers.

Administration of the Bungonia Cemetery

As far as can be ascertained, the Cemetery Committee, with R.A. Woods as Chairman, first met in 1913, having been set up by the Progress Association. No minutes of meetings are available until 1926, but the 1933 Annual Meeting is described as the "15th Annual Meeting" and by then the Committee was an autonomous body.

A caretaker was employed to keep the cemetery grounds in good condition and probably to assist with digging the graves. The caretaker's annual salary was 14 pounds until 1933 when contributions fell off and, following the call for tenders, the annual salary was dropped to 7 pounds 15 shillings (a reflection of the troubled economic conditions of the Depression).

Caretakers were Walter Jones from 19?? to 1929, Charles Armitt, from 1929 to 1930, Robert J. Hinton from 1930 to 1934, Max Cooper from 1934 to 1935 and Jim Ryan Jnr from 1935 to 1936.

The Committee did not function from 1936 to1952. A meeting was called in 1952 and the Committee reformed and meetings continued until 1955 when it again lapsed. In 1967 the Committee met to organize a working bee but did not meet again until 1977.

Occasional meetings were held from 1977 until 1995 when the administration of the cemetery reverted to the Progress Association. The minutes record that controlling the weeds, keeping the grass short, dealing with the graves falling in and headstones falling over (problems endemic to all old cemeteries), as well as a chronic lack of funds, were the matters discussed at meetings.

The current major projects are to rid the cemetery of Tree of Heaven and other noxious weeds, to maintain the paths, preserve some of the historic memorials, for example, a memorial gateway dedicated to several servicemen (including one killed at Gallipoli on the 25th April,1915) and to create a comprehensive and accurate record of people buried in the Bungonia district.

Who is in Bungonia cemetery?

In 1920 when the cemetery was surveyed a list of sections and plots was written up at the back of the minute book. Sometime in the 1930's, using information on headstones and the knowledge of caretaker Bob Hinton, George Ryan, a member of the Cemetery Committee, fitted names to plots.

The record has been maintained since and is the source of information about the location of burial sites in the cemetery.

The publication we reference here, lists people who died or are buried in the Bungonia area from 1829 to 1996.

The listing includes all the information in the records maintained by the cemetery committee, plus information from the State Archives, newspaper obituaries and funeral notices, family historians, church records and many other sources.

Analysis of the information that we have gathered shows some interesting facts:

• About 200 people have no known grave site.
  
  
• Of the 73 infants aged less than 1 year, 64 died prior to 1900.
  
  
• Of the 81 children aged 1 to 12 years, 74 died prior to 1900.
  
  
• The earliest record of death in the area is that of Gabriel Huon de Kerrilleau, missing in the Bungonia Gorges in January, 1829.
  
  
• Prior to the establishment of the cemetery, there were 15 recorded deaths and it can only be assumed that these people were buried on the properties where they worked.
  
  
• The earliest recorded burial was that of Robert Lumley Futter, aged 11, who died on 16th December, 1836.

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