St Leonards’ Gore Hill Cemetery, it was established in 1868 and operated until 1974, having accommodated nearly 14,500 burials. It was divided into denominational sections – Roman Catholic, Anglican and other Protestant faiths – reflecting the importance of religion, and sectarian divisions, within colonial society.
The cemetery was saved from destructive redevelopment in the 1970s after a
proposal had been put forward to make it a ‘rest park’ – a green space where people could wander and sit among trees and flowers. That model of redevelopment had been recently implemented in nearby Crows Nest, at St Thomas’ Rest Park – formerly St Thomas’ Cemetery.
That burial ground was even older than Gore Hill Cemetery. It was established
in 1845, when landowner Alexander Berry gave four acres (1.6 hectares) at the far eastern corner of his vast estate to the Church of England for use as a cemetery. The motivation was the death of his wife, Elizabeth, and the absence of a local burial ground for her interment. The donation coincided, by chance, with the construction of St Thomas’ Church a kilometre away.
St Thomas’ Cemetery was specifically Church of England, so those of other
denominations still had to transport their departed loved ones to the south side of the harbour before Gore Hill was ready for interments in 1877.
St Thomas’ was distinguished immediately by the huge sandstone pyramid built
over Elizabeth Berry’s crypt. Other burials followed and those on the eastern side of the cemetery took their orientation from the pyramid. One of those, the vault of Captain Owen Stanley in 1850, set in train the use of the cemetery as an unofficial maritime and naval burial ground.
The western end of the cemetery was more heavily populated in the late 19th
century through to 1950, when the last burial occurred. In the decade after that, the cemetery suffered from neglect and vandalism. It was given over to North Sydney Council in 1967 and relandscaped as a ‘rest park’ for an area that was soon to be cut off from Cammeray Park by the Warringah Expressway. Many headstones were relocated and many more removed, so that the area remained a cemetery of sorts (no human remains were removed) and a park for dog walkers and children.
The pyramid and other significant monuments remained, but the balance did not
please everyone. When it came to consider the future of Gore Hill Cemetery in the mid-1970s, campaigners opted for preservation, and they won.
Historical Services, North Sydney Council.