A dissolved Catholic cemetery bounded by Elswick Street, William Street, Allen Street and North Street.

First interment in 1868 and closed in 1902. Repurposed as a Catholic school and church.

http://localnotes.net.au/?p=620

Father Therry and the Balmain Catholic Cemetery

BY LOCALNOTES, ON MARCH 13TH, 2008

As Australia's pioneer priest, Father John Joseph Therry stepped ashore in Sydney in May 1820, little would he have imaged that thirty seven years later, as parish priest of the parish of St. Augustine at Balmain in Sydney's inner west, he would ‘do a deal' with one of Sydney's leading Protestants to acquire four acres in a remote part of his parish to establish a Catholic cemetery. The cemetery was known as the Balmain Catholic cemetery and for the next half century many Balmain pioneers were laid to rest there. The cemetery closed around 1905 and over the following 100 years, all traces of this cemetery disappeared and today's visitor to the site would have no inkling that a cemetery ever existed there. The location has become one of Catholic Sydney's least known historic sites. The cemetery land now houses St. Columba's church, presbytery and primary school plus a convent for the Sisters of St. Joseph.

When Therry obtained the land most of today's Leichhardt was part of a large estate known as the Elswick Estate and was owned by Sydney solicitor and MLA James Norton, who with his family, lived on the estate in a large house known as Elswick House. In later years the Sisters of St. Joseph purchased Elswick House to establish a school and today, although much altered, it is part of the offices of the Catholic Education Office.

How Father Therry obtained the land is both fascinating and a little mysterious. It is thought that around 1857, Therry did a ‘deal' with James Norton to obtain the land on a progressive payment basis, regrettably both Therry and Norton died before the transaction was completed. It is now thought that the cemetery land is one of the many blocks of land that Therry bequeathed to the Society of Jesus in Ireland to encourage them to come to Australia.

The cemetery land eventually passed to the Balmain parish in January 1869 when it was legally transferred to a committee of trustees comprising Archbishop Polding, the Balmain parish priest Father Dillon and two well-known Balmain identities, Michael Hyland and Martin Cherry.

Whilst there are legends that Father Therry began to carry out burials in 1857, the first ‘proven' burial is that of Catherine Leahy on 16th September 1868 and the funeral notice of Matthew Byrnes dated 12 December 1868 states that his place of burial is the new Catholic cemetery at Balmain. This suggests that burials actually started around the end of 1868.

Regrettably the burial register has been lost and knowing who is buried under the buildings now on the site is very difficult, however a local historian with fond memories of growing up in Leichhardt has written a history of the cemetery and is working to re-create the burial register and is anxious to hear from any readers who have memories or photos of this cemetery and especially anyone with information about burials which took place there.

If you can help, please contact:

Patrick Callaghan by mail at

1 Katina St. Turramurra or by

email at: [email protected] - email address can not be found 22/5/2020.