I'm not sure if this is the correct place to put the following information, which I thought may be of interest to people doing research in NSW, which includes the Devonshire Cemetery:
My husband was looking for the burial of an ancestor of mine in the Rookwood Catholic Cemetery. He found the grave but was surprised to find another person also buried in this grave. The strange thing was, the other person died in 1852 and wasn't buried in this grave until 1901 - a gap of 49 years. He just assumed that the date on the Rookwood Catholic Cemetery was in error, so emailed them for advice.
The reply came back today that the person had died on 01/01/1852 and was originally buried in the Devonshire Cemetery at that time. Prior to the construction of Central Railway Station, on the site of the Devonshire Cemetery, the family had this person's body moved and reburied at Rookwood Catholic Cemetery - the reburial was on 28/12/1901. (Apparently, families were given two months to arrange for exhumation and removal of remains from the cemetery. All reasonable costs were borne by the Government and the remains that were unclaimed were relocated to a purpose built cemetery named Bunnerong Cemetery (adjoining Botany Cemetery) at La Perouse. In all, thousands of graves and 2,285 tombstones were relocated to Bunnerong. For more information, see:
http://www.gml.com.au/sydneys-graveyards/)
Twenty years later, in 1921, my ancestor (a Catholic) was buried in the same grave and I was unaware of what the connection was between the two people. After some research, we found that he was married to the grand-daughter of the original 'occupant' of the grave. The granddaughter, who wasn't Catholic, is buried in the Anglican section.
So, if you find the death of an ancestor and a burial many years later, don't think it's wrong, as I did, - it could well be a relocation of the body to another cemetery.
The contact at the Rookwood Catholic Cemetery was most helpful and also sent two attachments - Devonshire Street Exhumations; and Devonshire Cemetery (historical information of the cemetery 1819-1888, map and photo). If anyone is interested in this information, please send me a private message and include your email address, and I'll forward them to you.
