Visitors to Rookwood – the largest cemetery in the Southern Hemisphere – will journey back 150 years on April 28 and May 26, discovering the cemetery’s intriguing history and visiting significant areas and notable graves.
Starting as a grave digger over 30 years ago and now General Manager Operations, Mark Bundy is tour conductor and is often asked who the most important person is in Rookwood.
“That’s always an easy question to answer because there are over a million important people buried here, and another 2,000 arriving every year, all with their stories to tell,” he said.
Tours start at 9am in the All Souls Chapel next to the office with videos on Rookwood’s early beginnings, the railway which used to run through Rookwood from Mortuary Station and the hundreds of pauper graves of WWI soldiers.
Visitors will see Quong Sin Tong Shrine commemorating the early Chinese that came to work on the goldfields in the 1850s.
“It contains the original Chinese burning drum where they burnt fake money to pay off the Devil while the spirit escaped to heaven,” Mark said.
There’s also the Circle of Love, honouring 19th century children; Martyrs Memorial, a Holocaust victims tribute; and Mausoleum of Eternal Rest which boasts amazing views plus more.
A visit to famous gravesites include John Fairfax, Fairfax dynasty founder, and David Scott Mitchell, Mitchell Library benefactor, and many more as well as fascinating facts on how burial practices have changed through history.
Bookings (weekday car tours also available): 8575 8100 or tours@rookwoodcemetery.com.au.
