Historic Jewish Cemeteries
Prepared by Helen Bersten, Gary Luke and Colin Choat from information held by the Australian Jewish Historical Society
There are a number of Jewish Cemeteries in Australia which are now disused or which no longer exist. This page lists four which are located in New South Wales. The names of those buried at Goulburn Jewish Cemetery and Maitland Jewish Cemetery are listed below. Work is still progressing on the lists of names of those buried at Devonshire Street Cemetery and Raphael's Cemetery. Those details will be added to this page when the lists are completed.
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Devonshire Street Cemetery, Sydney, New South Wales
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Goulburn Jewish Cemetery, Goulburn, New South Wales
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Maitland Jewish Cemetery, Maitland New South Wales
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Raphael's Cemetery, adjacent to Rookwood Cemetery in Sydney, New South Wales
The contribution of George Bergman, Louise Rosenberg and Terry Newman for providing details regarding many of the people people buried in these cemeteries is acknowledged.
The
Rookwood
Jewish Cemetery website, has been the main burial site for Sydney & NSW Jews
for the last 140 years. All burials are indexed with maps, and photographs of
all are gradually being added.
Devonshire Street Cemetery
Devonshire St Cemetery was located between Eddy Ave, Elizabeth, Chalmers and Devonshire Streets, Sydney. It was consecrated in 1820. The Jewish section was used from 1832. By 1860 the cemetery was full, and it was closed in 1867.
In 1901 the cemetery was resumed to allow for the development of Central Railway Station. Representatives of those buried in the cemetery were given 2 months to arrange for exhumation and removal of remains from the cemetery. All reasonable costs were to be borne by the Government.
The list below details those persons whose remains were transferred from the Jewish section to other cemeteries. The cemetery to which the remains and headstone were moved is also shown, together with details of the applicant for the removal. The list also contains names of persons who are known, from newspaper notices, to have been buried in the cemetery up to 1844, but in respect of whom no application for removal may have been made.
The information comes from a number of lists held by the Society, as well as from the work by Johnson and Sainty, detailed below. There were some inconsistencies in the lists used. Notes and alternate spelling of names have been included where it has been thought necessary.
"Devonshire Street Cemetery re-interment register and index" ("microform" format) was produced by the Library of Australian History, North Sydney, 1999, based on the original Public Works lists. The re-internment lists, which appear in Johnson & Sainty's publications, are held by the AJHS, State Library of New South Wales and many other libraries.
Other publications covering transfers from the cemetery
include:--
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Johnson, K.A. and Sainty, M.R., Sydney Burial Ground 1819-1901 and History of Sydney's Early Cemeteries from 1788. Library of Australian History, Sydney 2001.
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The Australian Jewish Genealogical Society (contact details below) has produced a Compact Disk covering burials in the Old Jewish Section at Rookwood Cemetery in Sydney which includes details of transfers from Devonshire Street Cemetery.
[The Australian Jewish Genealogical Society
PO Box 42 Lane Cove
NSW 1595 Australia
AJGS Web Site
Email: society@ajgs.org.au]
The State Records Authority of New South Wales has an internet page devoted to cemetery records.
Where it is indicated that the transfer was to "Raphaels", there may be more details below
Goulburn Jewish Cemetery
In 1848 an area of ground at Towrang, in which 3 burials had already taken place, was conveyed by Samuel Benjamin and Elias Moses as trustees of the Goulburn Hebrew Association and dedicated "for the burial therein of deceased persons of the Jewish faith." A chapel within a substantial stone cottage for the caretaker was erected.
The Census of 1841 recorded that there were 22 Jews living in the town. The Census of 1846 gives a figure of 54 Jews in Goulburn and 59 in County Argyle. At this time Goulburn had the third largest Jewish population in Australia, after Sydney and Melbourne.
The list below draws on a number of lists prepared by members of the AJHS over the years. The year of death has, where possible, been confirmed by referring to the internet page Historical Index Search at the New South Wales Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages internet site. The work of David Ralph, archivist of the Goulburn Historical Society, in researching the burials at the cemetery, is also gratefully acknowledged.
GOULBURN JEWISH CEMETERY
SURNAME OTHER NAMES DATE OF DEATH AGE OTHER INFORMATION
ABRAHAMS Ezekial Alfred 1891 Burial recorded, but in unmarked grave
ABRAHAMS Henry Alfred 1873 Burial recorded, but in unmarked grave
ALEXANDER Rose Una 13/12/1878 2 months AM 5639
BENJAMIN Sarah 24/06/1867 44
CARO Henry Isaac 11/09/1877 45 AM 5639
COLLINS Elizabeth Esther 05/10/1858 7 weeks
COLLINS Lydia 15/03/1862 37 Wife of Joseph. Mother of 6 children.
Hebrew name: Leah bat Mordecai
COLLINS stillborn male 15/03/1862
DAVIS Isaac 09/02/1845 33 Buried before ground consecrated.
Hebrew name: Yitzhak ben Yitzhak.
Murdered by bushrangers.
This is the earliest marked grave. He had lived at Boorowa.
His widow, Esther, later married Moss Marks, who lies nearby.
DAVIS male infant 11/03/1861 13 days
Davis Mark Elgin 21/06/1860 1
EMANUEL Reginald Meyer 21/11/1871
EMANUEL Sydney Levy 09/05/1863 28
GOLDBERG Samuel 20/08/1911 38
GOLDBERGER Hugo 19/07/1943 56 Doctor.
GOLDSTEIN A M Burial recorded, but in unmarked grave
HENDRICKS Aaron Herman Charles 11/10/1867 3
HINDS Mary 06/01/1918 54
ISAAC F Burial recorded, but in unmarked grave
ISAAC R S Burial recorded, but in unmarked grave
JACOBS Samuel 1867
LANG Louis 1882 21
LEVY Roma 1869
MANDELS(H)ON Louis 17/03/1909 71 Had conducted a "fashionable tailor establishment".
He had lived in Goulburn over 50 years at the time
of his death and was perhaps the longest Jewish resident of Goulburn at the time.
Left a widow, 2 sons and 7 daughters.
MANDELSON Louis ??/09/1865(1863?)18 mths. 2nd son of Emanuel and Caroline
MARKS Moss 05/08/1869 53 Hon. Sec. of committee set up to organise
building of the chapel in the burial ground.
MOSES Hannah ??/11/1844 Buried before ground consecrated in 1848.
Daughter of John and Rebecca Moses.
Drowned at a flooded crossing.
MOSES Moses 11/06/1876 68
MOSES Rebecca 08/01/1854 46 Wife of John. Earliest known couple to be married by Jewish rites in Australia (1831).
AJHS has copy of their marriage document.
MOSES Sarah ??/11/1844 Buried before ground consecrated in 1848.
Daughter of John and Rebecca Moses.
Drowned at a flooded crossing.
MOSES Solomon 21/11/1860 6 months
MOSES Solomon 20/10/1860 33
VOGEL Siegfried 09/10/1943 56 Together with Dr. Hugo Goldberger, who lies nearby, went to
the district as a refugee from Nazi Europe. Purchased a small
store at Yarra Yarra near Goulburn
YATES Lydia
YATES Saul 06/07/1867 79 AM5627. Solicitor, late of London. Jewish name Pinchas ben Binyamin.
Further research into Goulburn burials is ongoing and this list will be updated when it is completed
Maitland Jewish Cemetery
The Australian Jewish Historical Society Journal, Vol. IV, Part IV, August 1956 contained an article titled 'Three Country Cemeteries of New South Wales.' The article included a list of those buried at Maitland Cemetery. The list is set out below. The sequence numbers refer to a plan of the cemetery, reproduced below, which gives the situation of the various graves. Following the 44 graves detailed in the AJHS article is a list of other persons believed to be buried in the cemetery.
MAITLAND JEWISH CEMETERY
GRAVE SURNAME OTHER NAMES DATE OF DEATH AGE COMMENTS
1 ILLFIELD Caroline 11/04/1905 72
1 ILLFIELD Myer 27/06/1924 73
2 MANDELSON Hyam Elias 16/12/1919 58
3 MARTIN Isaac 24/3/1879 32
4 HARRIS Solomon 13/9/1878 67
5 HARRIS Henry 26/11/1859 55
6 fallen stones-1862-probably GOULSTON
7 fallen stones-1862-probably GOULSTON
8 FRIEDMAN Henry Nathaniel 1/1/1877 15
9 fallen stones
10 FRIEDMAN Nathaniel Jacob 16/1/1877 2mths
11 LEVIEN George 28/6/1852 4yrs (son of Alfred)
11 LEVIEN Myalla 21/11/1854 4yrs (sister of the above)
12 ISRAEL Charles Lewis 16/12/1868 17˝yrs (son of Isaac Israel)
13 SAMUELS John 6/11/1873 79
14 COHEN George Judah 15/1/1889 69 (He was the father of Sir Samuel Cohen and Alroy Cohen)
15 DAVIS Harry Septimus 15/1/1897 35 (son of Rev. A.B. Davis)
16 FRISCH Daniel 17/9/1897 63
17 BENJAMIN Morris 3/10/1897 61 (Buried by Rev. S. Levi.
He had two sons, Henry and Alfred, living at the time in Sydney.
He was born in Hobart)
18 LIPMAN Robert 28/05/1902 66
19 LEWIS Samuel W 23/05/1903 68
20 LIPMAN Sarah 17/08/1903 50 (wife of Robert Lipman)
21 BARNETT Michael 5/06/1905 69
22 LEWIS Rachel 24/03/1908 73 (wife of Sam Lewis)
23 HART Henry 27/08/1931 79
24 HART Benjamin 3/10/1905 84
25 LIPMAN Lena Rebecca 25/01/1882 6mths (daughter of Robert and Sarah)
26 LEVY (LEVI?) Lydia Isabella 23/01/1898 1yr10mths (daughter of Rev. S. and Abbie Levy)
27 ISRAEL Elizabeth 19/06/1865 57 (wife of Isaac Israel)
28 COHEN Barnett L 30/12/1880 36 (of Murrurundi, son of Lewis and Sarah)
29 LEVY fallen and broken-probably Julia Levy
30 LEVY Celia 7/12/1854 2yrs (daughter of L.W. Levy)
31 COHEN Hannah 25/07/1849 16mths
32 COHEN Jane 29/06/1849 11
33 REUBEN Morris 1/02/1905 12mths (died Mudgee)
34 COHEN Henry 6/01/1860 45
35 COHEN Celia 19/10/1860 21mths (daughter of Morris)
36 COHEN David 14/10/1861 7yrs (son of Lewis Cohen of Murrurundi)
37 COHEN Henry Samuel 6/05/1862 1yr 3 mths (son of Willian and Sarah Cohen of Tamworth)
38 HART Elizabeth 26/01/1869 36 (wife of Samuel Hart)
39 MARKS Harriet 8/06/1869 11weeks daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth Marks
40 COHEN Ethel 14/02/1905 9mths (daughter of George and Rose Cohen)
41 COHEN Leah 30/07/1874 5yrs (daughter of George and Rose Cohen, of Tamworth)
42 MARKS Elizabeth 18/07/1875 30 (A daughter of Samuel Benjamin, wife of Joseph Marks.
She died in childbirth, and the baby also died and was buried with her.
She left a husband and three children)
43 HART Samuel 7/07/1877 47
44 COHEN Morris 22/08/1878 51 (Member of David Cohen's family. He had five brothers living.)
* * * * *
LEVIE George 24/01/1905 (son of Wilfred and Rebecca)
FRIEDMAN Isabella 1/02/1924 76 (wife of Joseph)
FRIEDMAN Joseph 11/11/1906 68
29? LEVY Julia Alpha 27/08/1880 19mths daughter of Benn W. and Zara Levy
6? GOULSTON Rosina 27/05/1862 2yrs daughter of Joseph Goulston
IRWIN Ruby Violet 1897? 14weeks (granddaughter of Isabella Friedman)
7? GOULSTON Solomon 4/02/1905 3yrs son of Joseph Goulston
Five more burials have been discovered in the Death Register held by the Maitland Court House. None of these have tombstones. Their burial location in the cemetery is unknown.
Moses LEVI, 13-05-1857, age 63
Isaac LIPMAN, 26-03-1934, age 81
Benjamin MORRIS, 04-10-1897
Joseph MOSES, 04-08-1867, son of John & Sarah
Moses
Louis PYKE, 17-08-1894, son of Ebenezer
Also - Simon GOODMAN, died 19-06-1864 at Maitland and was buried in
Devonshire St Jewish section five days later. Transferred in 1901 to Rookwood.
Raphael's Cemetery
Raphael's Ground was dedicated in 1867 for Jewish burials. The site was a private burial ground provided by J G Raphael and L W Levy for members of the New Synagogue in Macquarie Street, Sydney. In 1970, the last stones were transferred to a group burial plot in Rookwood Cemetery and the site was converted into a park, named Jewish Reserve, on the corner of Raphael Street and Davey Street, Lidcombe.
A number of lists have been prepared over the years, listing the burials in the cemetery. The burial register of the Great Synagogue notes about twenty who were buried here between 1877 and 1904. In 1901 the sexton of the Jewish cemetery at Rookwood recorded the positions of 51 tombstones relocated from Devonshire Street Cemetery to Raphael's Ground. In 1922 a list of 79 tombstones was compiled, but this list has not been found. In 1949 the sexton of the "Jewish Cemetery, Rookwood" prepared two handwritten lists. One was titled "names of the people buried in the Raphael Cemetery which includes those removed from the Devonshire Street Cemetery." The other list was titled "Headstones in the Raphael Cemetery on which inscriptions are readable." A number of the names appeared on both lists. Seventy tombstones were identified at that time.
Three typed lists compiled between the mid 1960s and early 1970s by members of AJHS provide a list of names, together with further information about the deceased sourced from headstone inscriptions supplemented by research of related records."
In 1922 and in 1930 a number of tombstones of the Raphael family and relatives are recorded in the minutes of the Jewish Cemetery Trust as being transferred to Rookwood cemetery to the locations noted in the list below. The surnames include Raphael, Paris, Rosenthal, Mandel and Lee. The tombstone of Enid Cohen was another relocated to Rookwood in 1901 when three other children of this family died during an influenza epidemic. These are the only tombstones from Raphael's Ground which still exist. For two of these it is the second relocation, being originally for burials in Devonshire Street Cemetery.
Another list, dated 1973, is a list of names, together with the date of death.
The information set out below contains information from a detailed analysis of all these sources. The year of death has, where possible, been confirmed by referring to the internet page Historical Index Search at the New South Wales Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages internet site and, in some cases, from newspaper announcements of funerals.
Updated 1 July 2008