Dying to Know

Kim from Brigantia Designs posed this question:

"So that is a snipet from my history - what about you? Have you researched your family tree, come up with anything unexpected? I am a family history addict and bore -so I'd love to hear stories!"

Well, here goes.


When I first thought of what part of my family history to write about, I thought of my relatives who were involved in this:

"Between the years of 1837 and 1854, much of the land on which the Queen Victoria Market now stands was the site of Melbourne's first official cemetery, which housed the remains of an estimated 10,000 early settlers, including those of John Batman.

In 1917, when that Market was extended upon much of the cemetery site, 914 bodies were exhumed and re-interred at other cemeteries around Melbourne, including Melbourne General Cemetery in Carlton, and Fawkner Cemetery, which is now the resting place of the "Old Pioneers".

Most of the other 9,000 bodies remain buried beneath the existing car park. Unfortunately, there are no records of those buried there. Following its closure, the Cemetery fell into disuse and may of the red gum head stones were stolen for firewood. Official records for the cemetery were destroyed during a fire in one of the wings of the Melbourne Town Hall.

Today, the John Batman memorial is housed on the north east corner of the car park site, and a further memorial "Passage" to the 9,000 persons still buried on the site is situated on the corner of Queen and Therry Street."

My family were one of the lucky ones, and I still think of the others and of the little book that you can read about it.




I went to visit their headstones, and would love to go again. I am a country girl and to know some of my family were pioneers in Melbourne is something else.


These photos come from the photostreams on Flickr of Andyroo1964 and rodbev's photostream.