Waverley Cemetery

{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2011}} {{Use Australian English|date=May 2011}} '''The Waverley Cemetery''' opened in 1877 and is a cemetery located on top of the cliffs at [[Bronte, New South Wales|Bronte]] in the eastern suburbs of [[Sydney]]. It is noted for its largely intact Victorian and Edwardian monuments. The cemetery contains the graves of many significant Australians including the poet [[Henry Lawson]] and Australia's first [[Prime Minister]], [[Sir Edmund Barton]], who is interred at South Head. Funerals are conducted Monday to Saturday. The cemetery is self-funded, deriving its income from interments – including [[burial]] [[cremation]], memorials and [[Mausolea]] – of which there has been over 86,000. Waverley Cemetery was used during the filming of the 1979 [[Mel Gibson]] film ''[[Tim (film)|Tim]]''. The Cemetery was designed to function along similar lines to [[Père Lachaise]] in [[Paris]] and General Cemetery Company's [[Kensal Green Cemetery]] in [[London]]. ==History== The need for a cemetery in the Waverley area was discussed as early as 1863. In 1866, a delegation of representatives was sent to the Minister of Lands to talk about the proposal. In 1868, Waverley Council committed to the cemetery’s management on the provision that it would "incur no cost in doing so", and a government grant of £1200 was provided.{{Citation needed|date=July 2008}} In the 1870s the government of New South Wales purchased an initial four hectares of land, which they provided to the Waverly Council for use as a cemetery in the 1970s. To this local citizens added an additional five hectares of adjoining land. The first internment occurred on 4 August 1877. In 1892, a "sinking" fund was established to pay for the upkeep of the cemetery during times of insufficient income. By 1894 the cemetery had grown to its present size of forty-one acres bounded by Trafalgar, Boundary and St Thomas streets. ==Historical significance== [[Image:SydneySights0001.jpg|thumb|right|Grave of Henry Lawson]] [[Image:SydneySights0003.jpg|thumb|right|Grave of [[George Freeman (bookmaker)|George Freeman]]]] [[Image:SydneySights0002.jpg|thumb|right|Graves of [[George Sargent (businessman)|George and Charlotte Sargent]]]] Waverley Cemetery contains the graves of many people who shaped Australia. This includes literary figures such as [[Henry Lawson]], (one of Australia’s most famous poets), [[Jules Archibald]], founder of [[The Bulletin]] and benefactor of the [[Archibald prize]], nineteenth century poet [[Henry Kendall (poet)|Henry Kendall]], and poet and author [[Dorothea Mackellar]]. Other significant figures include aeronautical pioneer [[Lawrence Hargrave]], [[Olympic Games|Olympic]] swimmer [[Fanny Durack]], and New South Wales Premier [[James Martin (Australian politician)|Sir James Martin]], (whose remains were transferred to Waverly Cemetery after the death of his wife in 1909). The cemetery contains over 200 war graves from various past conflicts. The front gates are a memorial to the residents of the area who died during [[World War I]] and [[World War II]] . Inside the main gates is a memorial to the military forces of NSW which houses the remains of several officers killed in an 1891 sea mine explosion at Middle Head. At least eleven [[United States Civil War]] veterans are also buried at Waverley, including Phineas S. Thompson. In addition, the cemetery is home to the The Irish Martyr’s memorial, (unveiled in 1898), a memorial to the those who died in the [[Fenian Rising]] of 1867 and a memorial stone commemorating the [[1981 Irish hunger strike|1981 Hunger Strikers]]. As well as nationally famous figures the cemetery contains the graves of notable Sydney identities including Robert "Nosey Bob" Howard, the state's first salaried executioner who served until 1904, and Sydney crime figure [[George Freeman (bookmaker)|George Freeman]]. Architecturally, Waverley Cemetery is significant in that it showcases examples of Stonemasonry and funerary art dating back from the 19th century,{{Citation needed|date=July 2008}} with features (such as the gates, buildings and fencing) that due to their intact nature are considered of "outstanding aesthetic value". Included in this is a tomb designed for James Stuart and his family by the architects J Burcham Clamp and [[Walter Burley Griffin]]. ==Operation== The cemetery after more than 130 years of operation remains a 100% self funded business. It has never been funded by the public purse or council ratepayers, with individual graves maintained for a fee. Where families no longer wish to maintain their ancestor's graves this has led to some significant memorials (such as those belonging to Jules Archibald and [[Victor Trumper]]) falling into disrepair. In 2002, with new plots due to run out in ten years and an ongoing problem with vandalism, the [[Waverley Council]] as owners of the business looked for alternative sources of revenue. These included corporate and private sponsorship for grave sites, a proposed [[crematorium]], and the building of a new path to limit access to the cemetery by potential vandals. This sponsorship plan met with limited success, although some graves have been restored with the assistance of sponsors – including Jules Archibald's (by ''The Bulletin''), Lawrence Hargrave's through the [[Royal Aeronautical Society]], and the grave of Henry Lawson which was restored through a $10,000 grant by the State government – this has not secured the future of the business. The plan to incorporate an on-site cremation into the existing business encountered vocal opposition, including by [[Liberal Party of Australia|Liberal Party]] MP [[Malcolm Turnbull]], the Federal Member for Wentworth, who spoke in [[Parliament of Australia|Federal Parliament]] against the plan. The community opposition led to the plan being canceled in 2004. Finally, work on a new two million dollar boardwalk designed to move joggers and others passersby away from the graves was approved and was due to begin construction in July 2008. In late 2007, the [[National Trust of Australia|National Trust]] ran an online competition to determine the distribution of $185,000 in funding. Of the nine finalists, the Waverley Cemetery's ceremonial gates proved to be the most popular, winning the majority of the votes. Unfortunately, the amount voted to the project was only a little over 25% of the total restoration costs. The 75% remainder has been left to be funded by the cemetery and is likely to take many years to complete. ==Cultural influences== The earliest known motion picture filmed at the cemetery was the 1977 [[Italy|Italian]] production 'La Ragazza dal pigiama giallo', also known as 'The Pyjama Girl Case', a murder story based on the true story of [[Linda Agostini]], the [[Pyjama Girl]]. In 1979 the cemetery was a location in filming of the movie ''[[Tim (film)|Tim]]'' starring [[Mel Gibson]]. ''[[Baywatch]]'' used the cemetery while filming its Australian movie length episode, and the Australian series ''[[Home and Away]]'' buried one of their characters at Waverley in 2004. In 1996, scenes from the season one final of Australian TV show ''[[Water Rats (TV series)|Water Rats]]'' were filmed at the cemetery. Notable recent films include ''[[Dirty Deeds (2002 film)|Dirty Deeds]]''. It was also pictured in the [[Bollywood]] Blockbuster ''[[Dil Chahta Hai]]'' in a musical sequence.{{Citation needed|date=July 2008}} The cemetery has been a place of inspiration for many artists, Henry Lawson who ultimately ended up there was fond of using the location in his stories, either as direct reference or indirectly. {{Citation needed|date=July 2008}} [[Image:Waverley Cemetary.jpg|thumb|center|850px|A panorama of the cemetery.]] ==South Head Cemetery== South Head Cemetery is situated at the junction of New South Head Road and Old South Head Road, [[Vaucluse, New South Wales]]. Although it is in Vaucluse, which is in the [[Woollahra]] municipality, it is administered by [[Waverley Council]] and is a companion cemetery to '''Waverley Cemetery'''. The cemetery was established to cater for the needs of the population in the growing Vaucluse area; its first interment was in 1869. It was run for some time by a private trust, but management was transferred to [[Waverley Council]] in the 1940s. It covers an expanse of {{convert|4|acre|m2}} and contains the graves of 6,000 people as of 2008. There are a number of well-known people interred at the cemetery, including Sir [[John Robertson (New South Wales Premier)|John Robertson]], former Premier of New South Wales; Australia's first Prime Minister [[Edmund Barton]].; [[Robert Clyde Packer]] and [[Frank Packer]], newspaper proprietors, and other members of the Packer family; members of the [[Fairfax Media|Fairfax]] family, also newspaper proprietors; [[John Norton]] and [[Ezra Norton]] and family, also newspaper proprietors; [[Frank Clune]], author; Sir [[Walter Edward Davidson]], Governor of New South Wales; [[Roy Redgrave]], founder of the Redgrave acting dynasty; Edmund Resch, of the [[Reschs]] brewer family; John Charles Wright, former Archbishop of Sydney; former Lord Mayor of Sydney Sir [[Richard Watkins Richards]] and the architect [[Howard Joseland]]. There is also a memorial to [[Juanita Nielsen]] (situated within the elaborate ''Mark Foy'' family mausoleum), who disappeared in mysterious circumstances in 1975, presumed murdered. ==External links == {{Commons category|Waverley Cemetery}} *[http://www.waverley.nsw.gov.au/cemetery Waverley Cemetery website] *[http://www.forpeaceofmind.com.au/Vol2/historic.cfm The Wonders of Waverley Cemetery] {{coord missing|New South Wales}}