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St Thomas Rest Park

{{Short description|Cemetery in North Shore, Sydney, Australia}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2019}}

{{Use Australian English|date=August 2019}}

{{Infobox cemetery

| name = St Thomas Rest Park

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| image = St Thomas Rest Park Crows Nest.JPG

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| caption = Headstones and monuments in St Thomas' Rest Park

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| established = {{start date|1845|||df=y}} {{small|(as a cemetery)}}

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| location = West Street, {{NSWcity|Crows Nest}}, Lower North Shore, Sydney, New South Wales

| country = Australia

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| type = Historic cemetery and urban park

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{{Infobox park

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| coordinates = {{Coord|-33.824026|151.207271|format=dms|display=inline,title|region:AU-NSW_type:landmark}}

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| created = {{start date|1974|||df=y}} {{small|(as a park)}}

| operator = North Sydney Council {{small|(since 1967)}}

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| open = Open all hours

| website = {{URL|https://www.northsydney.nsw.gov.au/Recreation_Facilities/Parks_Reserves/Search_Parks/St_Thomas_Rest_Park}}

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St Thomas Rest Park, located in West Street, Crows Nest, New South Wales, Australia, is the site of the first cemetery on Sydney's North Shore. It is the largest park in the densely populated Crows Nest area.{{Cite web|url=http://www.northsydney.nsw.gov.au/Recreation_Facilities/Parks_Reserves/Search_Facilities_Parks_Playgrounds/St_Thomas_Rest_Park| website=North Sydney Council| title=St Thomas Rest Park| accessdate=5 March 2014}}

Cemetery

File:(1)St Thomas Rest Park 006.jpg

File:Berry Tomb in St Thomas Cemetery Crows Nest NSW.jpg and his wife Elizabeth, plus Elizabeth's brother, Edward Wollstonecraft]]

The land that now contains the St Thomas' cemetery site was granted, in 1821, to Edward Wollstonecraft.{{Cite web| title=Guide to the papers of the Berry, Wollstonecraft and Hay Families| author=State Library of New South Wales| year=1993| url=http://acms.sl.nsw.gov.au/_transcript/2007/D00007/berry1.pdf| accessdate=20 October 2009}} The land for the cemetery was donated to the Anglican Parish of St Leonards in 1845 by the prominent landowner and merchant, Alexander Berry, whose wife Elizabeth had inherited it on the death of her brother Edward Wollstonecraft.{{Cite web|url=http://www.northsydney.nsw.gov.au/files/01a145e3-b892-4e31-8e73-a15d00cd89d3/From_Land_Grant_to_Subdivision.pdf |title=From Land Grant to Subdivision| accessdate=6 March 2014}}

Wollstonecraft had died in 1832 and was buried in the Devonshire Street Cemetery. His remains were later moved to a tomb constructed in the St Thomas' Cemetery by Alexander Berry for his wife. Berry was also later entombed there. The tomb is still standing in the grounds of the Rest Park.

In 1967 the Cemetery was handed over to North Sydney Council by an Act of Parliament granting the area as 'community land' and allowing its conversion from a cemetery into a Rest Park. The new park opened in 1974. The sexton's cottage, dating from around 1850, was restored and opened as a museum in 1985. Many monuments and headstones are located within the sandstone-edged historic precincts while others are scattered around the Rest Park. An interpretive history trail provides 24-hour access to historical information.

The cemetery contains one Commonwealth war grave, of an Australian Army officer, Capt. Richard Gordon Dibbs.{{Cite web|url=https://stanton.imagegallery.me|title=Images from the St Thomas' Cemetery Headstones Index Collection}} The Park contains the headstones of thirteen members of four generations of the Dibbs family, the oldest being Sophia Elizabeth Dibbs, born in Sydney in 1809, and mother of George Dibbs (grandson of George Dibbs, below) of World War II.{{Cite web|url=http://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/2022923/ST.%20THOMAS%27%20CEMETERY,%20NORTH%20SYDNEY|title=CWGC Cemetery Report}} Detail from casualty record.

Notable people buried in St Thomas' cemetery

  • Robert Palmer Abbott, colonial politician and 5th Mayor of East St Leonards{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article228296685 |access-date=15 April 2019 |title=Death of Mr. R. P. Abbott |newspaper=The Australian Star |issue=4279 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=1 November 1901 |page=7}}
  • Charles Badham, classical philologist
  • George Barney, Royal Engineers officer, Lieutenant Governor of the Colony of North Australia, Surveyor-General of New South Wales
  • Ellis Bent, colonial judge-advocate
  • Alexander Berry and wife Elizabeth
  • Barcroft Henry Boake, poet, and his father Barcroft Capel Boake, photographer
  • George Meares Countess Bowen, military officer and early colonial settler, and others in his family
  • Matthew Charlton, 1st Mayor of the Borough of Victoria{{cite news|date=14 March 1907|title=Personal|page=6|newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald|issue=21576|location=New South Wales, Australia|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article14851243|access-date=15 April 2019}}
  • Rev. W.B. Clarke, rector of St Thomas church and "Father of Australian Geology"
  • Thomas John Cook, 2nd Mayor of the Borough of Victoria{{cite news|date=11 April 1891|title=Advertising|page=8|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|issue=3677|location=New South Wales, Australia|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article235889121|access-date=15 April 2019}}
  • George Dibbs, premier of New South Wales in the late 1800s, prior to Federation
  • William Dind, hotelier, theatrical manager and 3rd Mayor of East St Leonards{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article227110001 |access-date=15 April 2019 |title=The Late Mr W. Dind |newspaper=The Australian Star |issue=2176 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=26 January 1895 |page=11}}
  • James Graham Goodenough, naval commander
  • Hovenden Hely, explorer and politician
  • Bernhardt Holtermann, gold miner, businessman, and politician
  • Isaac Ellis Ives, 39th Mayor of Sydney, 3rd Mayor of the Borough of Victoria, MP for St Leonards
  • Benjamin Jenkins, sea captain, owner of Don Bank, and 4th Mayor of St Leonards{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article14395665 |access-date=16 April 2019 |title=Death of Captain Jenkins |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |issue=19756 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=6 July 1901 |page=14}}
  • Peter Kempermann, German diplomat and consul-general in Sydney{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article163694373 |title=The Late Herr Kempermann. |newspaper=The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser|location=New South Wales, Australia |date=17 November 1900 |accessdate=11 August 2023 |page=1181 |via=National Library of Australia}}
  • Edward Lord, son of Simeon Lord, City of Sydney Treasurer, 2nd Mayor of East St Leonards{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article28366131 |access-date=15 April 2019 |title=Death of Mr. Edward Lord |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |issue=14555 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=19 November 1884 |page=7}}
    {{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article163270537 |access-date=15 April 2019 |title=The Late Mr. Edward Lord. |newspaper=The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser |volume=XXXVIII |issue=1273 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=29 November 1884 |page=1094}}
  • John Frederick Mann, explorer, member of Leichhardt's first expedition{{cite web |title=John Frederick Mann |url=http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/mann-john-frederick-4144 |website=Australian Dictionary of Biography}}
  • James Milson, pioneer, landowner and namesake of Milsons Point
  • Alfred George Milson, grandson of James Milson, 10th Mayor of North Sydney{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article16436946 |access-date=10 April 2019 |title=Mr. Alfred G. Wilson |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |issue=28099 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=26 January 1928 |page=10}}
  • Conrad Martens, artist
  • Robert Moodie, 5th Mayor of the Borough of Victoria{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article113763187 |access-date=15 April 2019 |title=Death of Mr. Robert Moodie|newspaper=Evening News |issue=12935 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=23 November 1908 |page=5}}
  • Joseph Musgrave, bowler and 2nd Mayor of St Leonards{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article237280570 |access-date=16 April 2019 |title=Death of a Bowler |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |issue=6932 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=28 August 1901 |page=7}}
  • John Ovens, explorer
  • William Tucker, 1st Mayor of East St Leonards{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article13666300 |access-date=15 April 2019 |title=Family Notices |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |issue=15603 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=28 March 1888 |page=1 }}
  • William Waterhouse, 7th Mayor of the Borough of Victoria{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article13928940?searchTerm=Waterhouse |access-date=15 April 2019 |title=Family Notices |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |issue=17183 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=17 April 1893 |page=8}}
    {{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article13903828?searchTerm=Waterhouse |access-date=15 April 2019 |title=Family Notices |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |issue=17175 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=7 April 1893 |page=8}}
  • John Whitton, railway pioneer
  • Edward Wollstonecraft, pioneer
  • Montague Younger, musician

See also

{{stack|{{portal|New South Wales|Environment}}}}

References

{{reflist}}

External links

{{commons category|St Thomas Rest Park}}

  • {{official website|http://www.northsydney.nsw.gov.au/Recreation_Facilities/Parks_Reserves/Search_Facilities_Parks_Playgrounds/St_Thomas_Rest_Park}}
  • [http://www.northsydney.nsw.gov.au/files/868eb0d4-3da4-48d8-b0aa-a13a010abf43/StThomasRestParkBroch_Jan2013.pdf St Thomas' Rest Park] – Brochure. Retrieved 6 March 2014.
  • [http://photosau.com/StantonHeadstones/scripts/home.asp St Thomas' Cemetery headstone search]. Retrieved 6 March 2014.
  • [http://www.northsydney.nsw.gov.au/files/d9fa05e1-6e47-40f6-95c4-a13b00dfcc90/HW_Sailors_Soldiers_CivilServants.pdf St Thomas' Cemetery] – Walking Tour Brochure. Retrieved 6 March 2014.

{{Parks in Sydney|state=autocollapse}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Thomas Rest Park}}

Category:Cemeteries in Sydney

Category:Parks in Sydney

Category:1845 establishments in Australia

Category:Crows Nest, New South Wales

Category:1974 establishments in Australia

Category:Buildings and structures completed in 1974

Category:Parks established in the 1970s

Category:Protected areas established in 1974