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Camperdown Cemetery, New South Wales
Established 1849

Camperdown cemetery was established in 1848 and became the Church of England's principal burial ground in Sydney. It is now the only surviving cemtery of the three main early cemeteries in Sydney:

• The cemetery in George Street Sydney, now the site of Sydney Town Hall,
• The cemetery in Devonshire Street Sydney, now the site of Central Railway Station, and
• Camperdown cemetery.

A list of all burials at Camperdown Cemetery is provided. Click the relevant link in the menu, above. It might be helpful to read the Production Notes page because the present area of the cemetary is now substantially less than when people were buried. Part of the original area was resumed to create the "Camperdown Memorial Rest Park."

Although the cemetery is located in Church Street Newtown, it is referred to as Camperdown cemetery because it was originally part of a property named "Camperdown." Subsequently the suburbs of Newtown and Camperdown were named but the cemetery has continued to be called Camperdown Cemetery and, sometimes, St Stephen's Cemetery, because St Stephen's Anglican Church, Newtown, is located in the grounds of the cemetery. Comprehensive information about the cemetery is provided in a Wikipedia article.

The first burial took place in 1849 and the final burial in 1948. In the first twenty years after its establishment about 16,000 burials were performed. In all, about 18,000 people were buried in Camperdown Cemetery.

The land for the cemetery was purchased from Sir Maurice Charles O'Connell, son-in-law of Governor Bligh, and the first interment at Camperdown, strictly speaking a re-interment, was that of O'Connell, who died in 1848, shortly before the cemetery was opened. His remains were exhumed from Devonshire Street and reburied at Camperown. Interestingly, Bligh's great-grandson, Richard Stuart O'Connell, was was one the final burials in the cemetery, nearly 100 years later. Sir Maurice O'Connell and Richard Stuart O'Connell, bookends for all of those buried at Camperdown Cemetery.

Please note that we have no other information about any of the people named on the list of burials. If you have further particulars or wish to advise of possible errors in the information provided here, please contact us.

Monthly guided tours of Camperdown Cemetery are conducted, current as at January 2017. Contact the co-ordinator for details. If the contact link is not active, send an email to tours@neac.com.au