St Thomas Rest Park

St Thomas Rest Park, located in West Street, Crows Nest, New South Wales is the site of the first cemetery on Sydney's North Shore. It is the largest park in the densely populated Crows Nest area.[1]

St Thomas Rest Park
Headstones and monuments in St Thomas' Rest Park
Details
Established1845 (1845) (as a cemetery)
Location
West Street, Crows Nest, Lower North Shore, Sydney, New South Wales
CountryAustralia
TypeHistoric cemetery and urban park
Find a GraveSt Thomas Rest Park
Coordinates33°49′26″S 151°12′26″E
Created1974 (1974) (as a park)
Operated byNorth Sydney Council (since 1967)
OpenOpen all hours
Websitewww.northsydney.nsw.gov.au/Recreation_Facilities/Parks_Reserves/Search_Parks/St_Thomas_Rest_Park

Cemetery
Sexton's Cottage Museum
Tomb of Alexander Berry and his wife Elizabeth, plus Elizabeth's brother, Edward Wollstonecraft

The land that now contains the St Thomas' cemetery site was granted, in 1821, to Edward Wollstonecraft.[2] The land for the cemetery was donated to the Anglican Parish of St Leonards in 1845 by the prominent landowner and merchant, Alexander Berry, whose wife Elizabeth had inherited it on the death of her brother Edward Wollstonecraft.[3]

Wollstonecraft had died in 1832 and was buried in the Devonshire Street Cemetery. His remains were later moved to a tomb constructed in the St Thomas' Cemetery by Alexander Berry for his wife. Berry was also later entombed there. The tomb is still standing in the grounds of the Rest Park.

In 1967 the Cemetery was handed over to North Sydney Council by an Act of Parliament granting the area as 'community land' and allowing its conversion from a cemetery into a Rest Park. The new park opened in 1974. The sexton's cottage, dating from around 1850, was restored and opened as a museum in 1985. Many monuments and headstones are located within the sandstone-edged historic precincts while others are scattered around the Rest Park. An interpretive history trail provides 24-hour access to historical information.[1]

The cemetery contains one Commonwealth war grave, of an Australian Army officer, Capt. Richard Gordon Dibbs.[4] The Park contains the headstones of thirteen members of four generations of the Dibbs family, the oldest being Sophia Elizabeth Dibbs, born in Sydney in 1809, and mother of George Dibbs (grandson of George Dibbs, below) of World War II.[5]

Notable people buried in St Thomas' cemetery

See also

References
  1. "St Thomas Rest Park". North Sydney Council. Retrieved 5 March 2014.
  2. State Library of New South Wales (1993). "Guide to the papers of the Berry, Wollstonecraft and Hay Families" (PDF). Retrieved 20 October 2009.
  3. "From Land Grant to Subdivision" (PDF). Retrieved 6 March 2014.
  4. "Images from the St Thomas' Cemetery Headstones Index Collection".
  5. "CWGC Cemetery Report". Detail from casualty record.
  6. "Death of Mr. R. P. Abbott". The Australian Star. No. 4279. New South Wales, Australia. 1 November 1901. p. 7. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
  7. "Personel". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 21576. New South Wales, Australia. 14 March 1907. p. 6. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
  8. "Advertising". The Daily Telegraph. No. 3677. New South Wales, Australia. 11 April 1891. p. 8. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
  9. "The Late Mr W. Dind". The Australian Star. No. 2176. New South Wales, Australia. 26 January 1895. p. 11. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
  10. "Death of Captain Jenkins". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 19756. New South Wales, Australia. 6 July 1901. p. 14. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  11. "The Late Herr Kempermann". The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser. New South Wales, Australia. 17 November 1900. p. 1181. Retrieved 11 August 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
  12. "Death of Mr. Edward Lord". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 14555. New South Wales, Australia. 19 November 1884. p. 7. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
    "The Late Mr. Edward Lord". The Sydney Mail And New South Wales Advertiser. Vol. XXXVIII, no. 1273. New South Wales, Australia. 29 November 1884. p. 1094. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
  13. "John Frederick Mann". Australian Dictionary of Biography.
  14. "Mr. Alfred G. Wilson". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 28099. New South Wales, Australia. 26 January 1928. p. 10. Retrieved 10 April 2019.
  15. "Death of Mr. Robert Moodie". Evening News. No. 12935. New South Wales, Australia. 23 November 1908. p. 5. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
  16. "Death of a Bowler". The Daily Telegraph. No. 6932. New South Wales, Australia. 28 August 1901. p. 7. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  17. "Family Notices". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 15603. New South Wales, Australia. 28 March 1888. p. 1. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
  18. "Family Notices". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 17183. New South Wales, Australia. 17 April 1893. p. 8. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
    "Family Notices". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 17175. New South Wales, Australia. 7 April 1893. p. 8. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
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