Australia's Oldest Cemetery St Johns Convicts & Wealthy Landowners Rest In Peace & A Tale of Murder

St John’s Cemetery, was the First Cemetery built in Australia in 1790.
It is also known as 'The First Fleet Cemetery', Where more than 50 of the First Fleet's passenger's are buried.

Including Henry Edward Dodd, who was personal servant to Captain and first Governor of Australia Arthur Phillip. Henry actually saved the colony from starvation by cultivating farm lands that kept the colony going, his was also the first funeral in Australia.

James Wright, one of the convicts in the First Fleet became the first Baker to the colony.

Along with Wealthy land owners
and their families, Such as the honorable & controversial Rev. Samuel Marsden 'The Flogging Parson' who had a reputation among convicts for heavy handed punishment and Surgeon John Harris of Harris Park.

William Cosgrove a constable shot 12 times while trying to apprehend 3 Bush Rangers in 1819.

There was also a murder on the grounds...

Ground keeper Edward 'Old Neddy' Vallace was decapitated in his lodging in the Cemetery, with an axe in 1829 by a mentally ill man by the name of James McManis, who had gone mad after the loss of his mother Jane McManis, (her grave pictured on our thumbnail).

Haunted & Historic Australia always enjoy discovering and delving into the history of Australia. Descendants of Convicts and Free Settlers ourselves we have an unquenchable thirst for learning how life was back in the early days of Australia.

St John's Cemetery is just another example of a treasure trove full of Aussie legends and villains that have made Australia what it is today.

Acknowledgements and Thank You to the following:
'Friends of St John Cemetery' for the conservation and maintenance of the Cemetery.

Also under Fair-Use Act 1976
Sketch of Sydney Cove, Port Jackson in the County of Cumberland, 1789, National Library of Australia, Canberra, Australia
By Francis Fowkes
http://nla.gov.au/nla.map-nk276

"The Founding of Australia. By Captain Arthur Phillip R.N. Sydney Cove, January 26th 1788", [1937], by Algernon Talmage
https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/collection-...

[Reverend Samuel Marsden, 1833 / watercolour possibly by Richard Read Junior] Richard Read, 1796-1862
https://archival.sl.nsw.gov.au/Detail...

Captain Waterhouse's house, Sidney [sic], the Vineyard, about 1798
From the collections of the State Library of New South Wales [a4814001 / SSV1B/Parr/6]
(Mitchell Library)
https://dictionaryofsydney.org/media/...

The pioneer, in 1788 Captain Arthur Phillip R.N. proceeded from Botany Bay to Port Jackson, Henry Macbeth-Raeburn, 1936, hand coloured mezzotint. National Library of Australia
https://sydneylivingmuseums.com.au/ar...