Dictionary of Sydney

The Dictionary of Sydney was archived in 2021.

Devonshire Street Cemetery

Burial ground established in 1820 on the outskirts of colonial Sydney to replace the earlier burial ground on George Street. It was the city's main burial ground until the opening of Rookwood Cemetery. It officially closed in 1867, although people who had family vaults or previously purchased plots were still being buried there until much later. Also referred to as the Sandhills Cemetery due to its proximity to sandhills, it was resumed in 1901 to enable the building of Central Railway Station.

-33.88442692751, 151.20660567281

Milestone
Buried
09 Sep 1819
Buried
11 Nov 1819
Buried
11 Nov 1819
Opened
1820
Buried
1820
Buried
Oct 1823
Buried
1825
Buried
26 Apr 1829
Buried
Oct 1833
Buried
03 Sep 1834
Buried
06 Sep 1834
Buried
06 Sep 1834
Buried
09 Sep 1834
Buried
10 Sep 1834
Buried
11 Sep 1834
Buried
03 Oct 1837
Buried
12 Feb 1839
Buried
Aug 1852
Buried
31 May 1855
Buried
29 May 1857
Buried
09 Jul 1858
Buried
12 Oct 1859
Buried
1860
Closed
1867
Replaced by
1868
Buried
25 Aug 1868
Buried
17 Nov 1868
Buried
1869
Buried
14 Oct 1871
Buried
16 Nov 1871
Buried
31 Mar 1873
Buried
03 Aug 1878
Buried
10 Aug 1878
Buried
28 Sep 1878
Buried
20 Jul 1882
Buried
19 Sep 1882
Buried
27 Jun 1885
Name
Alternate
Sandhills Cemetery
Commemorated by
Alternate
Sydney Burial Ground
Property
Superseded by
Comprises
Type

Devonshire Street Cemetery

,
2019

Sydney’s Devonshire Street Cemetery, as it has come to be known, was a cemetery of firsts. Not only was it the first time the Surveyor-General grouped a set of burial grounds together; Devonshire Street was also the first time attempts were made to regulate burials and order the cemetery landscape. In use from 1820 until the 1860s, it was Sydney’s second major cemetery.