G96
THE CHRONICLES OF EARLY
MELBOURNE.
interments, such a notion seems never to have occurred to the persons connected with the place ; and some idea of the looseness observed m a y be gathered from the following extract of a communication with which Mr. George Walstab has favoured m e :— " M y connection with the Old Cemetery as Secretary to the present Trustees, commenced in 1866, without records of any kind. T h e cemetery was closed by Proclamation, dated 1st June, 1854. T h e interments from 1866 to 1881, both inclusive, are 217." T h e "closure" indicated, was not an absolute prohibition to bury, as an exception was m a d e in favour of those w h o had interment allotments purchased. T h e families of such persons still possess the right of burial there, but it is not often availed of. Even many w h o had relatives interred there purchased other burial sites, and had the h u m a n remains exhumed and re-interred in what was known for years as the N e w Cemetery. It appears that originally the Governors of N e w South Wales were empowered to grant land for burial grounds and other public purposes—but by the Acts 5 and 6 Victoria, c. 36, sec. 3, special authorization was given to reserve land as sites for the interment of the dead. T h e following m e m o . on the legal history of the Old Melbourne Cemetery, supplied by a " learned friend," whose researches have occasionally been of a rather weird character, and dry-as-dust reading, is of sufficient interest from an antiquarian point of view, to be included in a narrative of this kind :— "Previous to the year 1843, pieces of ground forming the Old Melbourne Cemetery seem to have been set apart and used by different religious denominations for the burial of the dead. " O n the 30th January, 1843, a Crown grant was issued to George Lilly, William Wilton, J. Jones Peers, T h o m a s Jennings, and William Willoughby, in trust for the interment of the.dead according to the use of the Wesleyan Methodists. " O n the 18th May, 1843, a Crown grant was issued to the Right Rev. W m . Grant Broughton, D.D., in trust for the interment of the dead, according to the use of the United Church of England and Ireland. " O n the 19th October, 1843, a Crown grant was issued to William Ryrie, James Oliphant Denny, and J. Hunter Patterson, in trust for the interment of the dead, according to the use of the Church of Scotland. " O n the 18th December, 1844, a Crown grant was issued to Michael Cashmore, Solomon Benjamin, and Ashur H y m e n Hart, in trustforthe interment of the dead, according to the custom of the Jews. " O n the 30th November, 1847, a Crown grant was issued to Robert Dunsford, Godfrey Howitt, Edward Sayce, and John Bakewell, in trust, for the interment of the dead, according to the use of the Society of Friends. " A n d on the 30th November, 1847, another Crown grant was issued to the Rev. Alexander Morison, T h o m a s Fulton, and Edwin M a w n e y Sayers, upon trust, for the interment of the dead, according to the use of the Independents. " T h e pieces of land comprised in these grants do not include the whole pieces of land known as the Old Melbourne Cemetery, but there is a portion which was used by the R o m a n Catholics, and another portion which was set apart for the burial of Aboriginals, which appear to be still vested in Her Majesty—no grants appearing of record. '•By the Act 14, Victoria No. 19, sec. 18, the Officer Administering the Government of Port Phillip was empowered by Proclamation to close the cemetery, except as to vaults or enclosed portions of land that were private property. " B y Proclamation of 1st June, 1854, John V. Foster, the Officer Administering the Government, closed the cemetery in accordance with the last-mentioned Act. After this Proclamation, the Old Cemetery seems to have slept for 10 years, and all about the previous title, too, seems to have been forgotten. " B y Order-in-Council (18th April, 1864), Richard Hale Budd, Alexander Brock, J. Cosgrave, J. Phillips, Robert Smith, and Moses Rintel, were appointed Trustees. This Order seems to have been made ignoring the previous Trustees altogether, and under the assumption that the provisions of the Cemeteries Statute 1864 were applicable. "N.B.—These Trustees seem to have acted as under the Cemeteries Statute, 1864.
