History Hunt

Welcome to our historic cemetery! As you explore the beautiful grounds of St Matthew’s, you will notice numbered yellow stakes placed beside several prominent graves. We invite you to wander the paths, follow these golden markers, and discover the final resting places of the pioneers, First Fleeters, and remarkable individuals who shaped our local community and early Australian history. Simply match the number on the stake to the list below to uncover the fascinating stories, family histories, and lasting legacies of the people buried here. Happy exploring!

The graves selected for the following tour are intended to show how the cemetery developed and reflected the early growth of society in Windsor and the Hawkesbury. Follow the numbered yellow stakes to learn more.

Start at the Marble Monument in the centre of the driveway then, facing the church, turn to your left and walk towards the boundary fence of the cemetery to find more yellow stakes. You are approaching the graves of free settlers of influence, like those who became magistrates, government officials or rich citizens. Their graves are vaults topped with altar monuments; the size and height increased over time as the families sought to show their social status.

Amelia died on 21 August 1875.

Amelia Ann Hale was the daughter of James and Mary Hale.

She married William McQuade in 1850 and was the mother of Henry McQuade.

Died 15 March and buried 20 March 1837 

(Left section, row 7, plot 28)

William Cox was a soldier and, after leaving the army, became a successful farmer and grazier. He was appointed magistrate in 1810 and held the position until he died, aged 72 years.

He was highly thought of by Governor Lachlan Macquarie for his contracting ability. He supervised the building of the road over the Blue Mountains in 1814 and was contracted to supply the bricks for the new church in 1816.

William Cox’s influence at St Matthew’s cannot be overstated. With Archibald Bell, he used his standing in the community to convince Archdeacon Broughton to remove Reverend Docker after he had also had removed the previous three ministers: Robert Cartwright, who moved to an unfinished church at Liverpool; John Cross, who moved to an unfinished church at Port Macquarie; and Elijah Smith, who went back to England. In the words of Rev Jospeh Docker,

The conduct of Messrs Bell and Cox has been actuated by a hostile, persecuting, unchristian spirit. All the Clergymen who have preceded me at this station have been driven away by them. The Revd Mr Cartwright, the Revd Mr Cross and the Revd Mr Smith all received the same treatment, all shared the same fate. (Source: Docker to Broughton, 11 July 1833, as cited in Jack & Barkley-Jack, St Matthew’s Windsor: An Anglican Landmark Celebrating 200 Years, 2016)

William Cox’s wife, Rebecca (nee Upjohn) pre-deceased him. When she died in 1819, while the church was still being built, Cox chose his wife’s burial plot as far from the altar monuments of ex-convict traders as he could, very aware that the place where he and Rebecca would be buried needed to reflect his high standing in life. The grave began an exclusive corner on the highest part of the burial ground.

William died 28 February 1839 aged 8 years

[Note: when this grave inscription was recut, the date of his death was transcribed wrongly].

Maria died 14 May 1849

Joseph died 25 July 1862

(Left section, row 5, plot 8)

Wealthy Maria Cope moved to the Hawkesbury in the 1830s and bought the remainder of Thomas Rickaby’s unsold high land on the ridge in Central Mulgrave Place (Mulgrave Place was the name the district was called at that time). Maria was responsible for the subdivision bounded by the Terrace and George Streets below Fitzgerald Street in today’s Windsor, an area she suggested should be sold as specific defined areas according to social class, with the Terrace as the most elite. Her son William attended Reverend Joseph Docker’s school in the St Matthew’s Rectory but tragically was drowned in the Hawkesbury River in 1839. Reverend Docker gave a heart-felt sermon at the 8-year-old child’s funeral. (Source: Jack & Barkley-Jack, St Matthew’s Windsor: An Anglican Landmark Celebrating 200 Years, 2016)

Buried 4 August 1835

(Left section, row 7, plot 27)

Captain John Brabyn was a military man who was appointed as a magistrate and who supervised the building of the schoolhouse and temporary chapel at Wilberforce in 1819.

He was one of a group (including John Town, Richard Fitzgerald and John Tebbutt) who signed a petition to request the Archdeacon to reconsider his decision to remove Reverend Docker from the church ministry, on good proof that the community valued him and that William Cox had engineered his removal. .

John died 29 November and buried 1 December 1916

(Left section, row 9, plot 26)

John Tebbutt and his wife Ann were both free settlers who arrived in Sydney towards the end of 1801. In 1845 John purchased land at Windsor, in the area known as the Peninsula, and built a residence. Their son John set up a store in Windsor and their grandson, John Tebbutt III became a famous astronomer.

In 1853 John Tebbutt III, who had been educated in Windsor, purchased a sextant (an instrument for determining the angle between the horizon and a celestial body, such as the sun, moon or star) and, using an ordinary marine telescope, he began observing the night sky. In 1861 he discovered The Great Comet, one of the most brilliant comets known, and it was named in his honour. In 1862 he was offered the position of Government Astronomer, which he declined, because he would have had to work in Sydney. Soon thereafter, he started recording weather observations which were published for many years in the local papers. 

In 1863 John Tebbutt III built an observatory close to his father’s property. He purchased a large refracting telescope and continued to make many astronomical discoveries for which he became known worldwide. That telescope is now in the Tebbutt observatory, having been purchased by Hawkesbury City Council. He was featured on the Australian $100 note from 1984–1996 and had a crater on the moon named for him by NASA. Even though he never left Australia, he had taught himself to read French and German, corresponded with international colleagues and acquired a large astronomical library. It is said that his funeral was one of the most well attended of all time at St Matthew’s, with many notable guests from Sydney attending. (Source: https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/tebbutt-john-4696)

Note the style of the Tebbutt family crypt. As you walk around it you will notice the entrance at ground level at one end. You are likely to notice other family crypts throughout the cemetery.

Died 2 May and buried 8 May 1821.

(Left section, row 10, plot 21)

Thomas Arndell came free as a surgeon on the First Fleet and was appointed a Hawkesbury magistrate in 1802. He is one of many First Fleeters buried at St Matthew’s. At Arndell’s funeral a scene erupted between Reverend Samuel Marsden, who was conducting the service, and Andrew Doyle, an innkeeper. As a result Doyle was imprisoned. (Source:

Arndell’s wife, Elizabeth (nee Burleigh) died in 1843 and was buried with him, although as a convict she had not been included in the official parties that Arndell attended such as Macquarie’s dinner to name the towns in December 1810.

The tour continues in a clockwise direction to the early anthropomorphic sandstone graves of the poorer, ex-convict settlers (anthropomorphic gravestones are those simple markers cut in various shapes modelled on variations of the head and shoulders of a human). These ex-convict settlers took up farms and became respectable smaller settlers in the district.

From Arndell’s altar monument turn towards the back boundary fence and look for the seventh yellow stake. It is near a low grave surrounded by a fence.

Died 4 September and buried 5 September 1820

(Left section, row 16, plot 22)

Ann Green (alias Cowley) was a First Fleeter, a 28-year-old mantua maker, who was charged at the Old Bailey on 13 December 1786, with stealing 19 china plates to the value of seven shillings and sixpence (7/6d) and one china bowl to the value of sixpence (6d), the property of William Moody. She was found guilty and sentenced to seven years transportation. Ann was put aboard the Lady Penrhyn with her young son, William, who died on 8 February 1787, before the fleet sailed. On the voyage, Ann formed an association with William Sever, the captain of Lady Penrhyn. Ann gave birth to a daughter on 9 November 1788, and she was named Letitia Green. Letitia married settler Roger Twyfield (Source:  ).

Ann had been the partner of an officer in the colony but her children to him went to England to be with their father.

On 31 March 1792, Ann Green married William Bledy/Bladdy, who had been charged at Carlisle, Cumberland, on 7 August 1790, and transported on the Third Fleet, arriving in 1791 with a seven-year sentence. A daughter, Jane, was born to Ann and William on 7 January 1795, and a son, Thomas, on 24 April 1797. Ann was granted 50 acres of land at Mulgrave Place in 1797, and William received his first grant in 1802. She remained friendly with the local Aboriginal clans, despite her house being raided (Source:  ).

By 1820, the family held 70 acres on the Hawkesbury. William was a constable, the trusted friend of the chief constable and magistrate, Andrew Thompson, and was one of the witnesses to Thompson’s will.

Ann was one of three midwives at Hawkesbury in the eighteenth century. From 1810 to 1814, she was housekeeper at Government House, Windsor, catering to the needs of the Macquaries. (Source:

Note the style of this grave, with a fence around it. Also note the First Fleet plaque on the gravestone. You’ll notice many more of these plaques throughout the cemetery.

Facing Ann’s grave turn diagonally to your right, walk towards back corner of the church building and look for the next stake.

Died 15 February and buried 17 February 1823.

(Left section, row 20, plot 10)

Daniel Barnett, a First Fleeter, had been convicted twice before starting on his voyage to NSW aboard the Friendship. First, he was tried at Winchester on 29 July 1783 for “stealing 2 Iron Grapplings and 1 Iron Creeper, valued at 10 shillings, the goods of the King.” (Source:  ) He was found guilty, sentenced to seven years transportation to America and taken aboard the Mercury in March 1784. During a convict mutiny aboard the Mercury, Barnett escaped, but was recaptured in Torbay Harbour by HMS Helena in April and committed to Exeter Gaol. Found guilty again, in May he was sent to Dunkirk Hulk, where he spent three years before being put aboard the Friendship, for transportation to NSW. (Source:

On 16 June 1793, Daniel Barnett married Ann Baker and they lived on a grant of 50 acres at Mulgrave Place. They had a son, also named Daniel. As no further records mention his wife, she may have pre-deceased him. By 1806 Daniel senior was sufficiently successful as a farmer to be able to support himself and his son. In 1822 they owned 15 acres at Pitt Town. (Source:

Daniel Barnett’s life was important for several reasons. He was one of the very first 22 settlers who chose to live in the district of Mulgrave Place by April 1794, and was given a special and unusual mention in the Parish Register. Recorded as Daniel Barney, his burial is recorded in the in the church records as: “this corpse was the first brought into the body of St Matthew’s Church, attended by many of the oldest inhabitants of these parts, Barney being one who came out on the First Fleet” (Source: St Matthew’s Parish Register).

The third special thing to note about Daniel’s grave is that his marker very unusually tells of the love he had for his son and the son’s appreciation of his father in return. The headstone reads “Sacred to the memory of Daniel Barnett who died February 15th 1823, aged 68 years. This stone is erected by his son Daniel Barnett as a lasting testimony of his filial love to a kind parent.” Note this grave also retains its smaller footstone recording the initials of Daniel Barnett and the date of his death.

As you face Daniel’s grave turn diagonally to your left and walk towards the back corner of the cemetery to a row of gravestones.

Elizabeth died 25 August 1814

(Back section, row 31, plot 5)

Robert died 17 December 1835

(Back section, row 31, plot 2)

First Fleeter Robert Forrester received a grant on the Hawkesbury in late 1794. His eldest daughter Elizabeth Chapman was born in the colony and died on 25 August 1814 in Windsor. She was the first of the family to be buried in this cemetery.

Robert Forrester, like so many of the early ex-convict settlers on the lowland farms, had been industrious and struggled through floods and debts. His wife was trapped on their lowland Cornwallis farm in the high 1806 flood, rescued when up to her neck in water, having given birth just days previously. (Source: )

The Forrester family continued to share close bonds when the children began to mature in Mulgrave Place. The family stayed close, not venturing to Bathurst or the Hunter Valley like so many of the second generations in Australia. His sons John, Henry, Robert and William farmed in the Windsor district, and daughter Ann lived in Windsor. Her sister Margaret and husband Richard Ridge moved to below Wilberforce, and daughter Isabella, resided at Wilberforce.

Now walk back along row 31 to a very low monument with a bronze plaque.

Died 27 September 1943

(Back section, row 31)

Andrew’s gravestone states that he was “the last known Aboriginal person born on Darug land to occupy the Sackville Aborigines Reserve.”

Facing Andrew’s monument, turn diagonally right and walk towards the far back corner of the cemetery to a group of graves.

Died 7 February 1812

(Far back section, row 36, plot 7)

James Thomson was a humble free farmer and one of the earliest burials in the cemetery. This family group of gravestones had an interesting chain surround with a stone pillar in each corner.

Now start walking up the hill in the direction of Greenway Crescent.

Richard died 20 May and buried 22 May 1812.

Sarah buried 2 May 1832.

(Far back section, row 36, plot 17 [the set retains five of the original six grave markers and was repaired in 2016.])

Richard was a convict who arrived on HMS Glatton in 1803. Sarah, his wife, also sailed on the Glatton – as a free settler – and was allocated 60 acres of farmland at South Creek. (Source:

After Richard’s death in May 1812, Sarah continued farming on upper South Creek and it is said the 1816 floodwaters came up to the eaves of the farmhouse (Source: ..).

The Alcorn family had close ties with St Matthew’s for many generations with births, weddings and deaths taking up more than a column in the index of the published Register.

Their son Richard and his wife Charlotte went to farm in the Hunter Valley and on 28 August 1826, became, probably unintentionally, involved in the conflict with Aboriginal people there, resulting in Richard being injured and Charlotte hiding under a bed with their baby (Source: The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW) Sat 9 Sep 1826 ).

Continue up the hill.

James died 21 June 1857

Amelia died 21 August 1875

(Back section, row 34, plot 31)

James Hale was an ex-convict who gained social advantage and was accepted as part of the select establishment. He became an innkeeper and married Mary Broughton, the widow of a successful ex-convict Windsor butcher, William Durham.

Hale gathered a huge estate of more than 2,000 acres on the Hawkesbury, and many cattle. He bought William Cox’s property of Fairfield at Windsor when Cox died. His daughter, Amelia Ann Hale married William McQuade, the owner of a theatre in Sydney. William dedicated the extremely large Carrara marble monument at the front of the church to his wife Amelia and her parents. 

Note the style of this grave and many others in the upper eastern section of the cemetery. They are family vaults with altar monuments and reflect families’ growth in social status.

Susannah buried 8 November 1825, and Henry buried 18 March 1846.

(Back section, row 32, plot 41)

Both Susannah and Henry Kable were ex-convict First Fleeters who famously fought to come to NSW together as a family with their small son (the gaoler took the baby to London to get special permission). On arrival in the colony, the Kables fought to get their stolen belongings back in the first civil court case in NSW – and won. They owned farming property in the Hawkesbury from before 1810, but only came to live here in that year. After Henry’s famous Sydney shipping partnership with Simeon Lord and Joseph Underwood broke up, leaving Kable with huge debts, they moved to Green Hills village and managed Andrew Thompson’s large local brewery, as well as continuing their farms. Henry became a successful businessman in the Hawkesbury. (Source:..)

Also in this vault is the Kables’ son-in-law William Gaudry, the husband of their daughter, Diana. Gaudry was a free arrival who rented Governor Bligh’s farm at Pitt Town after Bligh returned to England.

Turn slightly to the right and continue up the hill.

Richard Fitzgerald died 25 May 1840

(Back section, row 29, plot 29)

Richard Fitzgerald arrived in NSW aboard the William and Anne on 28 August 1791 (Source: MacLaurin, Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 1, 1966). He had been given a land grant as early as 1794 and “in 1801 he had four horses, 95 sheep, 40 pigs and 26 acres under crop” (Source: Windsor and Richmond Gazette, Friday 23 October 1914).

As the ex-convict agent of John Macarthur, Fitzgerald proved himself very capable as a leader and gained charge of all the government farms throughout the colony by 1802, including the largest at Toongabbie and maintained that he had “remained at Toongabbie until 1804,” then bought a farm at Hawkesbury (Source:  ). He is known to have bought property in Green Hills village because he was living there. The Sydney Gazette reported the Fitzgeralds were victims of a robbery in September 1806 in “the Green Hills,” recorded in land transactions to have been in Fitzgerald Street, just two lots down from the corner of today’s George Street. (Source:

After the military took control of the colony in January 1808, official leadership roles were given to its supporters. Richard Fitzgerald replaced Andrew Thompson as the chief constable. Thomas Arndell, Hawkesbury magistrate, was substituted on the bench by Lieutenant Archibald Bell. After the military, led by Macarthur, overthrew Governor William Bligh, Fitzgerald, as chief constable and Macarthur’s agent at Hawkesbury, hastily and belatedly helped compile a petition to gather signatures in support of Bligh’s overthrow, after the event. Signatures were taken in the village first and then throughout the district’s farms and threats of violence and retributions were made to those who were reluctant to sign (Source: ..).

In about 1815, Richard Fitzgerald built the Macquarie Arms Inn and, for the wall adjacent the inn, used bricks that were rejected by the committee of inquiry that assessed the progress of the building of St Matthew’s church in the years 1817 to 1819. (Source: Windsor and Richmond Gazette, Friday 23 October 1914; TROVE)

Fitzgerald became a large and rich pastoralist, with properties in the Hunter region, including Dabee (Source: MacLaurin, Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 1, 1966), where he died in 1840. His body was returned to the Hawkesbury and buried here. Fitzgerald’s surviving son, Robert married one of the Rouse girls and they lived in the Macquarie Arms in Thompson Square Windsor, as their large town house.

The railing around the Fitzgerald family vault and altar monument is one of the few surviving hand-made iron fences in the St Matthew’s burial ground.

From the Fitzgerald altar monument walk diagonally towards the Greenway Crescent edge of the cemetery.

Died 24 January 1942

(Right section, row 26, plot 11)

Reverend Jenkyn was the first unmarried rector to be appointed to St Matthew’s. He served as rector from 1906 to 1936. He had electricity installed in the church and rectory in 1916. He presided over the planning for the church’s centenary celebrations from 1917 to 1921; the chalice and patten gifted by King George IV in 1822 were used in the centenary celebrations.

It was Reverend Jenkyn who first referred to St Matthew’s as “the cathedral of the Hawkesbury” and stated:

St Matthew’s does not belong alone to Windsor – it is more than a parish church. It is a national asset. It belongs to Australia, to the Commonwealth … within the last 18 years we have spent over £2,000 on repairs to the outside of it, its roof will now last for years to come … we cannot allow this historic church to grow shabby

In 1923, Reverend Jenkyn took a six-month holiday overseas and rented the rectory to the Campbell family during his absence. However, when he returned it was agreed that the Campbells would stay on in the rectory. Reverend Jenkyn happily relocated to the Commercial Hotel, and later the Macquarie Arms (Source:  ).

When Reverend Jenkyn retired, 500 people attended his farewell, and the newspaper reported that the turnout was a “striking demonstration of [his] popularity and the respect and esteem in which he was held by the community.” He remained in Windsor after his retirement and served as an alderman until 1941, within a year before his death (Source: Jack & Barkley-Jack, St Matthew’s Windsor: An Anglican Landmark Celebrating 200 Years, 2016).

Died October and buried 25 October 1810.

(Right section, row 24, plot 12)

Andrew Thompson (aged 37) was the first burial at St Matthew’s cemetery. The new burial ground’s rough location had been decided on, but Governor Macquarie’s aide-de-camp was sent to the planned, but unannounced, new town of Windsor to decide its exact location when Andrew Thompson died of consumption three months before the town was formally laid out. His poor health was a result of the effects of cold and immersion in the 1809 floods. Attendees at the funeral included William Cox, Surgeons Mileham and Redfern, Thomas Arndell and one of the Blaxland brothers (Source: ).

Andrew Thompson was the second ex-convict to gain immense wealth in this district (the first was John Stogdell who died in 1801 and was buried in Sydney, and the third was Richard Fitzgerald [see the previous entry]). Thompson’s wealth gave him importance in the colony. He was an entrepreneur. By age 31 he owned 658 acres of farming land, had launched his third ship, the 30-ton sloop Hawkesbury; had the “most extensive property at the Hawkesbury” as described by Judge Ellis Bent, and a grand townhouse in Sydney – the only premises acceptable to be rented by Judge Bent on his arrival in Sydney (Source: ). 

Thompson was a close friend to, and much admired by Governor Macquarie, and bequeathed his estate to the Governor. In 1813, Macquarie had installed the large, inscribed altar stone on Thompson’s grave.

Thompson was a hugely significant figure in early colonial NSW as the first ex-convict to be appointed a magistrate in Australia and the only ex-convict who had a civic square named after him. Thompson Square in Windsor was named in his honour in 1811 by Governor Macquarie.

From Thompson’s grave, walk towards Moses Street and the large tree in the front section of the cemetery.

George Loder Snr

Born 1759 or 1766 in Dorset, England

Died 18 August 1848

George Loder Jnr

Born 1796

Died 14 August 1834 aged 38 leaving a widow and six children

(Right section, row 18, plot 8)

George Snr arrived in the colony as a soldier with the Third Fleet, aboard the Admiral Barrington. He had enlisted in India in the 102nd Regiment of the New South Wales Corps. He petitioned to be transferred to Australia and was sent to Norfolk Island as Private George Loder from 1791 to 1793. On his return he was promoted to corporal and put in charge of the Windsor gaol and pound. He married Charlotte Stroud and rented 130 acres of land from Thomas Arndell on the river. (Source: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/158708991/george-loder)

George Loder Jnr, at age 19, married Mary Howe on 29 May 1816 in Windsor. Their children are buried in this family vault. Loder House in George Street, Windsor (Windsor Mall) was built in 1834 for George Jnr.

Mary was the daughter of John Howe, a free settler who had arrived in the colony in 1801 and was given a land grant on the Hawkesbury River. In October 1818, George Jnr and his brother Andrew participated in a small expedition, led by John Howe. The group travelled on foot north of the Hawkesbury to what is known as Doyle’s Creek, above Jerry’s Plains, and followed it down to the river, now known as the Hunter. After encountering difficulties in crossing unknown mountainous country, they followed the river down for a few miles and then returned home and spread the good news of their discovery.

Shortly afterwards, Howe led a second larger party to the new country. George and Andrew Loder participated in this second expedition. They explored area down by the Bulga, crossed the Cockfighter (or Wollombi Brook), followed the river down, and came to high land in the area now known as Patrick’s Plains. The party followed the river down to where the town of West Maitland now stands.

In 1821, all who participated were granted land in the Hunter by Governor Macquarie as a reward for their efforts. George and Andrew Loder took up land around what is now Mount Thorley, about 10 Kilometres south-west of Singleton (Source: The Cessnock Eagle and South Maitland Recorder, Friday 21 March 1919, p. 4).

Turn slightly to your right, pass three rows of graves and look for the stake marked with number 19.

Jonathan died 17 December 1834

Mary died 15 September 1883

(Right section, row 15, plot 9)

Jonathan Hassall was a son of Rowland Hassall. Mary Rouse (1799–1852) was the eldest daughter of Richard and Elizabeth Rouse. In 1813 Jonathan’s brother, Thomas Hassall set up the first Sunday School in Australia, which was located in Parramatta, and Mary appears to have been employed as an assistant teacher at the school.

Mary Rouse was listed among the Governor’s entourage to Newcastle in 1818, and was in attendance as a governess to Lachlan Macquarie Jnr.

On 22 November 1819 Mary Rouse married Jonathan Hassall in Parramatta in the famous triple wedding when three of Rowland Hassall’s children were married in the same ceremony: Jonathan Hassall and Mary Rouse, Samuel Hassall and Lucy Mileham, and Mary Cover Hassall and Walter Lawry.

After selling their country property the pair came to live at “Berkshire Park” which was a house built by the Rouses. Jonathan died in nearby South Creek, thought to have been by suicide. Mary lived on in the house and raised her children alone.

Jonathan’s brother, Thomas Hassall was an ordained Anglican clergyman, after growing up in Parramatta with his family, where he had received a good education. Thomas Hassall became the son-in-law of Reverend Samual Marsdon and participated in the service of consecration of the new St Matthew’s church in 1822 (Source: Jack & Barkley-Jack, St Matthew’s Windsor: An Anglican Landmark Celebrating 200 Years, 2016).

The vault and altar monument of Jonathan and Mary Hassall, surrounded by a fence, is one of many in this section of the cemetery, amongst other free families whose forebears received some prominence and died in the 1830s and 1840s.

Jonathan and Mary were the parents of Jonathan Lawry Hassall whose monument is located behind the western end of the church in the left section, row 22, plot 12).

Facing Moses Street, turn diagonally to your right and look for the altar monument with the tall fence and gate.

John Richard Rouse Terry died 26 October 1835

John Terry died 25 November 1842

(Right section, row 8, plot 4)

Samuel Terry, came to NSW as a convict aboard the Earl Cornwallis in 1801 (Source: Dow, as cited in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 2, 1967). He was an enterprising and canny man who became very rich from his business deals and at one stage owned a great deal of Windsor before selling to Maria Cope (Source:  ).

The Terry vault with its grand altar monument and fine hand-made high iron railing, is the largest in the burial ground, size being a way that families portrayed their prominence in society.

The Terry-Rouse connection: John Terry, Samuel’s son, married into the respected Rouse family in a ceremony performed by Reverend Samuel Marsden (Source: Dow, as cited in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 2, 1967).

 Richard Rouse had arrived in Australia in 1801, aged 26, with his wife Elizabeth and two small children. He was born in Oxfordshire, England, adjacent to Berkshire. In 1828 it was estimated that he owned 10,000 acres. In 1838 he was given a land grant of 320 acres which he named “Berkshire Park” probably named after Berkshire in England. (The suburb Berkshire Park is named for this estate. Today’s Rouse Hill had been known as Vinegar Hill and was re-named by Governor Macquarie to honour Richard Rouse.) Rouse also had grants at North Richmond, Bathurst, Gulgong, Warren and Wellington (Source: https://www.hawkesbury.org/name/berkshire-park.html ). The graves of Richard and Elizabeth Rouse are in the St Peter’s Anglican Church cemetery at Richmond.

Edwin Rouse was a son of Richard and Elizabeth. Inside St Matthew’s church there are seven stained glass windows that were installed as early as 1864. They depict biblical scenes and are also memorials to influential parishioners like Edwin Rouse and John Terry.

 In 1968, Nina Terry was the owner of Rouse Hill Estate. She died in that year, and her son Gerald Terry and his brother Roderick became joint owners (Source: The Dictionary of Sydney dictionaryofsydney.org). Gerald was the last inhabitant of Rouse Hill House and Farm before it became a museum. He died on 10 February 1999. The vault of Gerald Terry and Edwin Rouse is located in the left section of the burial ground, row 22, plot 3.

Now walk towards the Greenway Crescent edge of the cemetery and look for the stake with number 21.

James died 24 June 1910

Jane died 23 May 1913

(Right section, row 6, plot 23)

The Moore family were assisted immigrants who arrived in the colony from Drumquin in County Tyrone, Ireland aboard the ship Maitland in 1856. James Moore was 27 years old and a farm labourer. He farmed at Llandilo and endured the devastating 1867 flood, which ravaged the Nepean and Hawkesbury districts. All of James’s children attended Llandilo Public School (Source: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Moore-19225#_note-1). 

After retiring in the 1880s, James and Jane Moore moved to Newtown, Windsor. They were a highly respected family. James was an active man, ploughing a small paddock, where he grew produce for his own use up until a week prior to his death in 1910 (aged 82 years old). He was known as one of Hawkesbury’s best agriculturists and a man of upright character who earned the respect of all classes within the community.

James’s funeral service was conducted by Reverend Norman Jenkyn and J. W. Chandler was the undertaker. The funeral was attended by many. The pallbearers included Messrs Brinsley Hall MLA, astronomer John Tebbutt III, S. Gow, W. Pendergast and P. Carroll.

In 1913 when Jane Moore died, her funeral also took place at St Matthew’s. She had more than 50 grandchildren and more than 20 great grandchildren (Source: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/85944066?searchTerm=%22james%20moore%22%20death%20windsor and https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Given-294).

From a position facing the Moores’ grave, turn to your left and walk diagonally towards Moses Street to look for the 22nd stake.

Born about 1819.

Died 15 December 1855

(Right section, row 5, plot 13)

Edward arrived in New South Wales in August 1841, aboard the Elizabeth.

He was a publican at Windsor. On Wednesday 19 December 1855, the Sydney Morning Herald recorded Edward’s death as a “shocking result of intemperance”. Following a violent assault against his wife, Edward was fined and placed in the lock-up. Due to the “excited state of his mind, occasioned by drink, a difficulty was experienced in finding any person who would become surety for him” so he was “placed in the lock-up until he could be conveyed to Parramatta”. Edward died in the lock-up on the same night. An inquest was held before the coroner and a jury. After hearing evidence as to Edward’s previous over-indulgence in drink and his state whilst imprisoned in the lock-up, the verdict returned was that he had died from “delirium tremens” occasioned by excessive intoxication (Source: Sydney Morning Herald Wednesday 19 December 1855 page 10, TROVE).

Now turn to look towards the Moses Street boundary of the cemetery. The next stake is beside the Beveridge family plot.

Peter, died 5 November 1922

Elizabeth, his wife, died 5 October 1917

Young children of Peter and Elizabeth:

Bertie Dunston, died 8 October 1881 aged six months

Ida, died 21 February 1885 aged 4 months

Ernest, died 21 March 1891 aged 7 years and 10 months.

Keith Greig Beveridge, adult son of Peter and Elizabeth

Died 12 or 13 July 1934

(Right section, row 2, plot 9)

 Peter Beveridge was born in Windsor in a house that stood on the later site of the post office. He had a bakery for many years in Fitzgerald Street and supplied all the bread for refugees of the 1867 flood. In his later years he conducted a grocery and produce store and bakery in the premises later occupied by the Gazette. He achieved state-wide reputation as a caterer in Windsor and Sydney and acquired a considerable amount of property in Windsor. Peter died after a mishap with his horse and buggy at this son Keith’s orchard at Sackville. His funeral at St Matthew’s was attended by a number of members of Windsor and Richmond Masonic lodges. At the graveside after the service, Wor. Bro. J. J. Paine read the Masonic service. (Source: Windsor and Richmond Gazette NSW 1888–1971), Fri 10 Nov 1922 page 4.)

 Three of Peter and Elizabeth’s children died young.

 Their son, Keith, had a successful orchard at Sackville. On 8 July he sustained a broken leg while playing football at Tamarama Beach. He was taken to St Vincents Hospital and on 9 July was apparently comfortable but at 3pm became “strange in his manner” and restless and lost coordination in arms and “muttered irrelevantly”. On July 11 his temperature rose to 102 degrees and doctors could not reach a conclusion about the condition of his brain. The conclusion they eventually reached was that he had died of uraemia resulting from nephritis (inflammation of the kidneys) probably precipitated from the injury (Source: The Sydney Morning Herald NSW 1842–1954 Tuesday 14 August 1934 page 16. TROVE).

Adjacent to the Beveridge family plot you will see the Yeo plot, with a fence around it.

George died 23 May 1891

Alberto Frederick Thomas, George’s third son, died 30 September 1881

(Right section, row 2, plot 7)

George Shapland Yeo emigrated to Australia with other family members on the James Baines in 1855, and two years later he married Elizabeth Pender, who had emigrated from the Isle of Mull with her parents some fifteen years earlier. George and Elizabeth had eleven children (Source https://yeoonline.net/george-shapland-yeo-and-elizabeth-pender/).

Their third son, Alberto Frederick Thomas Yeo, died aged 10 years and six months at Mulgrave, after a fall from his pony.

George and Elizabeth’s grandson, Ernest Shapland Yeo (1909–1985) was awarded the medal of the Order of Australia in 1979 for “service to the mentally handicapped”. Ernest’s wife Linda was awarded the same medal in 1980 for community service (Source: https://yeoonline.net/george-shapland-yeo-and-elizabeth-pender/).

The last plot in this tour of the cemetery is on the Moses Street boundary. You will see a tall spire with a low fence around the plot. This gravesite is best viewed from outside the cemetery on the Moses Street footpath.

John Mill Hancock

Born around 1818

Died 3 December 1889

Elizabeth Hancock, his wife

Died 8 April 1897

Elizabeth Ann Hancock, John and Elizabeth’s daughter

Died 22 September 1893

(Right section, row 1, plot 7)

John Mill Hancock was a well-known resident and esteemed property owner of “Woodlands” at Mulgrave. He married Elizabeth Mogg on 9 July 1861. John’s funeral was attended by members of the local Masonic fraternity.

Acknowledgement: St Matthew’s Parish Council wishes to thank Dr Jan Barkley-Jack, President, and Peta Sharpley, Secretary of Hawkesbury Historical Society, for collaborating in the development of this tour guide.

If you are interested in searching for graves of your ancestors or other persons of interest to you check https://www.hawkesbury.net.au/cemetery/st_matthews/index.html