Of Convicts, Coffins and Nails

For those in Sydney with an interest in both the macabre and the historic, this is one of your last chances to see a slice of early colonial Sydney before it is lost to time. Archaeologists (including yours truly) are currently excavating over 50 graves belonging to a portion of the Old Sydney Burial Ground, one of the first cemeteries in the colony and the last resting place of convicts, officers and free settlers, with it’s first official iterment in 1792, and it’s last in 1820. And you can get a look at it, for one day only.

The Public Open Day at the Town Halldig site is Tuesday, 22 January. Entry is from 11am to 3pm, and no bookings are necessary. Entry to the excavation is through the Druitt St. entrance. Those with a sensitive disposition need not worry, as all human meterial will be out of public view, however the remains of coffins, grave cuts and so on will be on display. It is quite poignant to note the high number of very small graves - made for the first children of the colony who died in their infancy, and rather telling to note the number of coffins truncated or otherwise cut into by later development! We do indeed live amongst our ancestors, in a very real sense.

So, come by and have a look at one of the few remaining pieces of colonial Sydney… and say hi to me!