AGY-2518 | Balmain Cemetery Company

Full description

The Balmain Cemetery Company had been in operation since 'many years before the incorporation of the Borough or Municipal District of Leichhardt.' (1) Surviving records indicate that interment had taken place since at least 26 January, 1868. The land which was the property of William Patten was part of lot 4 section 3, deposited plan 36 bounded by Derbyshire Road and William Streets Leichhardt. (2)

By 1881 the cemetery had been in use for some time for the burial of the dead, portions had been sold to families as plots for burial and vaults had been erected. Some of the sold portions had been used as graves others contained fewer than the authorised number of bodies. James Martyn Combes, Alexander Henry Brown, Barbara Patten, Francis George Patten and William Patten were the Trustees, Executrix and executors of the will of William Patten and the owners of the land known as Balmain Cemetery. (3)

The Balmain Cemetery Act, 1881 enabled burials to take place between the hours of 8am and 5pm on the land near the Balmain Road which belonged to the Company except for 60 feet from the boundaries. It was stipulated that each grave should be at least 7 feet deep, only one adult should be interred in any one grave unless they belonged to the same family in which case two adults could be placed in the same grave. Each grave was to be separated from neighbouring graves by at least three feet. These requirements did not apply to land within the cemetery which had been sold prior to 1 August, 1881. (4)

The Balmain Cemetery Act, 1881 was repealed by the Old Balmain (Leichhardt) Cemetery Act 1941 (Act No.12, 1941) which abolished the cemetery and converted the land into a public park 'as a rest park and garden area' to be managed by Leichhardt Council as trustees. (5)

Endnotes
1. Balmain Cemetery Act, 1881. Preamble.
2. Old Balmain (Leichhardt) Cemetery Act, 1941. Schedule
3. Balmain Cemetery Act, 1881. Preamble.
4. Ibid. s.1.
5. Old Balmain (Leichhardt) Cemetery Act, 1941 s.3.