Wollongong Pioneer Park is the site of the former Anglican Cemetery, consecrated by William Grant Broughton, Bishop of Sydney, on 13 January 1848. Burials ceased early in the 20th century and during the ensuing years the cemetery site deteriorated and became overgrown. By a State Act in 1940, the cemetery was converted into a public park, ownership passing to the Wollongong City Council.
It is said that the monuments were laid flat on the graves and the gardens planted above them but it is a pity that none were preserved and remounted in Pioneer Park. However there is a small memorial at the park entrance that displays a brass plaque on which the names of those known to have been buried here are inscribed, as required in terms of the Cemetery Act. That list was compiled from various sources, in particular from the burial register of St Michael's Anglican Cathedral, the listing by Wollongong City Council of the headstones that existed in 1940 and from information provided by members of the public in response to an appeal for information conducted at that time.
Des Cafe visited the Park in March 2010 and has contributed his digital images of the park, memorial and list of known burials. In researching the data for the list of inscriptions for this cemetery, we found numerous differences between the Council list, the details inscribed on the plaque and the NSW deaths index. These relate mainly to the spelling of names and dates of death as well as a couple of apparent duplications. However, this is to be expected in interpreting old handwritten records that have been copied and recopied several times by different people. We leave it to family history researchers to attempt to resolve these issues.
Since uploading this data, Wayne Hill, who researched this cemetery in 2005, has furnished additional information on the actual inscriptions on the headstones before their removal. This has enabled us to add to the earlier record and we are grateful to Wayne for his assistance.
Wollongong Pioneer Park is maintained in beautiful condition by the Wollongong City Council. For further information, contact Council at Locked Bag 8821, Wollongong DC NSW 2500; phone 02 4227 7111; email: council@wollongong.nsw.gov.au