Family History

Are you chasing your past and ancestors?

We’re excited to share with you a comprehensive list of who’s buried in the Cemetery by surname from known available sources - over 2,000 names to date and growing!

We are extremely grateful to all of those historians, researchers, and volunteers listed below whose time and generosity enabled us to gather this data.

You can access the List HERE.

INTERESTING FACTS

  • Surnames with the highest recorded number of burials are Ryan (47); Kelly (44), Murphy (37), Kennedy (37) and Power (30). There are names like MacCheet which you don’t hear any more, notable historic names like La Perouse, Martin, Blake and others such as Klaen, Anschau, Longobardi, Tie and Lum.

  • Today, there are less than 500 remaining headstones in the Cemetery. Some stones were laid in a courtyard adjacent to the Chapel; some will have been covered by earth and grasses and succumbed to decay. Although there is no visible headstone to commemorate Alexander Green, Judith Dunn has captured this lively and somewhat reprehensible convict’s story. Born in Holland, convicted in Shropshire and described as a “tumbler”, Green arrived by convict ship in Sydney in 1824. He variously worked as a flagellator, scourger, later becoming Parramatta’s “Finisher of the Law”. Perhaps fittingly he died at the ripe old age of 86 in the local Lunatic Asylum ! Read more about Alexander Green HERE

  • The earliest identified extant headstone is of Thomas Nugent buried in April 1824. Join the Friends and you can access his story!

  • The curious and frustrating case of Bridget Egan’s missing headstone, a little 3 year old who died in 1800, is a lesson in keeping a good paper trail. Read Judith Dunn’s story “Where is Bridget Egan” HERE. Perhaps you have some clues as to its whereabouts??

The Friends are currently working on:

  • Creating GPS coordinates to help families and historians find headstones more quickly

  • A comprehensive Burial Database with individuals’ details, GPS coordinates, links to stories and other facts, gathered from our own research and numerous sources. Contents of this List are available to anyone who joins the group for our nominal annual membership fee of $10.00. Please contact Friends’ Secretary, Paul Carson for more details.

We’re also happy to assist family members with researching and learning more about their ancestors buried in St. Patrick’s Cemetery.

So again please do drop us a line !

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.

This comprehensive Burial Database has been compiled by Inara Molinari from the sources below, and personal family history records. There were a number of spelling and personal details inconsistencies across these records with preference given to the first resource findings, backed by additional online research via sites like TROVE and Ancestry.com

*"The Parramatta Cemeteries - St Patrick's", 1988, Judith Dunn. Published by Parramatta and District Historical Society.  ISBN 0 7316 1483 6  Limited Editions (1,000) A 3-year project during which Judith photographed, and deciphered  information from headstones on site, expertly recording them  in her publication for posterity.  Currently out of print.

*Site Survey conducted by McNiff Dive & Associates, plotting headstones and recording names. December 1973

* St Patrick's Catholic Church Burial Register - 1840-1888  (missing information between 21 May 1866 and 8 January 1870). Typeset in order of burial date,  July 1963. We are indebted to Cathy Dunn, who alphabetised the information from this Register saving us countless hours. Her list produced by P.Applebee ©2005 on https://www.australiancemeteries.com.au/nsw/parramatta/stpatrickafdata.htm