The Wesleyan Cemetery in Newcastle West was originally a one acre square of land dedicated in June 1846. The size of the cemetery was halved in 1854 when the Newcastle to Maitland railway was planned. Burials in the cemetery took place up until 1881 when Sandgate Cemetery was opened. The dedication of the Wesleyan cemetery was revoked in 1910. The land was sold to the Roman Catholic Church in 1955, and then subsequently sold for commercial and business purposes.
The colonial government dedicated one acre of land for a Wesleyan cemetery on 30 June 1846.
Suburban allotment No. 18 was a 22 acre portion of land in the Newcastle West/Wickham area, which was reduced to 21 acres after the dedication of the one acre cemetery. The Title Deed for the cemetery was issued on 22 September 1846.
In July 1854 the Hunter River Railway Company was formed, for the purpose of constructing a rail line from Newcastle to East Maitland. The route of the railway cut through the north-eastern section of the Wesleyan cemetery, and consequently the cemetery was reduced to a triangular portion of 2 roods 2 perches (approx 0.5 acre).
Because records for the civil registration of births, deaths and marriages in NSW are only available from 1 March 1856, it is not possible to identify when the first interment in the cemetery occurred, or how many interments occurred in the ten year period from July 1846 to 1 March 1856. The first positively identified burial in the cemetery was of 15 year old Thomas John Fernyhough in September 1858.
A report in 1872 referred to the four city burial grounds, including the Wesleyan cemetery.
The cemeteries that are now used are of a sectarian character – one of them belonging to the Church of England, one to the Roman Catholic, and another to the Presbyterian persuasion. The Wesleyan Methodists have also a very small one, which is situated in a marshy piece of ground a little way out of the city.
Australian Town and Country Journal, 16 March 1872.
The location of the cemetery was alluded to in an advertisement for the sale in June 1872 of “SIX BEAUTIFUL BUILDING ALLOTMENTS situated in front of the Wesleyan Burial Ground, near the White Gates, Maitland-road.” The White Gates was the location where Maitland Road crossed the railway line in Newcastle West.
By 1879, when plans for a new general cemetery at Sandgate were progressing, it appears that the Wesleyan cemetery was little used due to the swampy nature of the ground there.
Rev. Mr. WATERHOUSE, on behalf of the Wesleyan body, stated they had a cemetery of their own, but it was in a swamp; and since he had been in Newcastle he had only buried two in it.
Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners’ Advocate, 31 July 1879.
The last burial in the cemetery reported by the newspaper was that of Henry Gilpin on 5 January 1881. The last burial recorded in the government register of deaths was of 17 month old James Elliott in February 1881. When the general cemetery at Sandgate opened in September 1881, interments at all the city burial grounds (Christ Church Cathedral, Honeysuckle Point, Wesleyan) were prohibited by a Borough of Newcastle by-law.
With no new interments, the cemetery was neglected and fell into disrepair. A newspaper article in 1902 reported …
The Wesleyan Cemetery is a considerable distance away, the plot lying between the railway line and the road which crosses the high-level bridge. What its appearance was like years ago it is hard to imagine, but old residents tell gruesome stories of interments there at which, the coffin floated in water and had to be forced down with poles while the graves were filled in. A part of the land was contiguous to a swamp, but it is hard to define the boundaries now. A very small piece remains enclosed with a ricketty fence, and in the enclosure there are all that remains of five graves. On one of these is an inscription dating back to 1860, but the others are nameless. It is a debatable point whether some portion has not already been built upon, and, as a matter of fact, its existence as one of Newcastle’s earliest cemeteries is almost forgotten.
Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners’ Advocate, 4 March 1902.
The author of the article suggests that given “the desolate and neglected appearance” of the cemeteries in Newcastle West, that “the time has come for their removal.”
On 27 January 1910 the NSW Government Gazette published a “Revocation of Dedication” of the Wesleyan Burial Ground. There appear to be no records of removal of headstones or remains from the site to other cemeteries. A report leading up to a Land Board inquiry in 1947 on the future use of the land, noted that “nearly all traces of burials had been obliterated”, and that the site had been used for various purposes including tennis courts.
An old burial ground at Wickham will be the subject of a Land Board inquiry at Newcastle Courthouse on November 12. The board will recommend whether the land should be disposed of or converted to other use. The District Surveyor of the Land Board, East Maitland (Mr. R. Massie) stated that the land, known as portion 2519, of about one acre, was originally dedicated as a Wesleyan Methodist burial ground on September 22, 1846. Dedication was revoked in 1910 at the instance of the Methodist Church authorities. Mr. Massie said a 1910 report showed that the old cemetery had then been closed about 30 years, and nearly all traces of burials had been obliterated. Since then the land had been used for various purposes, such as a site for tennis courts. The location and satisfactory disposal of human remains would be impracticable, he added. Together with an adjoining lane, the land, which was now Crown land, was the subject of a special purchase application by the Trustees of the Roman Catholic Church of the Diocese of Maitland, said Mr. Massie. Other business firms and individuals were also interested in acquiring the land, he said.
Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners’ Advocate, 8 November 1947.
The Land Board decided in favour of the Roman Catholic Church acquiring the site.
The Land Board at Newcastle Courthouse yesterday, recommended that the Roman Catholic Church be given the opportunity to acquire the site of a former Wesleyan Methodist cemetery at Wickham, for a hostel for the Young Christian Workers’ Extension Association. The board made its recommendation subject to … undertaking be given to reinter in any Wesleyan Methodist cemetery, without expense to the Crown, the remains of any person found during building operations.
Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners’ Advocate, 14 November 1947.
There is no record of any re-interments taking place during any subsequent developments on the site.
Vol-Fol 7010-6 records the “Grant of Land upon special purchase” by the Catholic Church in July 1955. In September 1968 the church sold the land to “NSW Motors (Newcastle) Pty Ltd” and the site has been used for commercial and business purposes since that time.
For more information about the Wesleyan Cemetery in Newcastle West, see the Newcastle West Burial Grounds publication from the Newcastle Family History Society.