LIST 5 - DEATHS - ALPHABETICAL ORDER

 
 
There were 12,856 burials recorded during this decade, plus a further 73 burials 
from the State Archives Pioneers Series which could not be located on the stated 
parish register. Added to which there were 314 deaths for which no burial record 
could be found, bringing the total number of deaths listed for this decade to 13,170 
which is two and half times the number from the previous decade.
 
The information recorded for each death is as follows:
 date of burial
 date of death (mostly post 1838)
 church or source
 family name
 Christian name
  age
 civil status at time of death
 year and ship of arrival
 
The list is in alphabetical order based firstly on family name then Christian name 
then age then date of burial or death of the deceased. 
 
The 'Date of Burial' on occasions has not been recorded on the parish burial registers, 
only the year. However by comparing the entry before and after a good estimate of 
the month can be made at least. Of course the date is not recorded for the entries 
of deaths for which no church burial can be found.
 
There were ten burials recorded in early January 1841 relating to deaths occurring 
in late December 1840 thus it was felt reasonable to include them in this work.
 
The 'Date of Death' was only required to be recorded on the government supplied 
forms after 1838, but not all parishes used the new forms, particularly the Catholics 
and the Presbyterians. On the other hand several parishes 'jumped the gun' as it 
were and used the new forms in 1838 and some parishes like Scots Kirk Sydney made 
a practice of regularly recording the date of death for all burials. But generally 
dates recorded before 1839 come from personal research.
 
'Churches' provided most of the data (see Table 5.2 below). Other 'Sources' included 
the Pioneer Register Project, the 1828 Census and other miscellaneous sources from 
personal research.
 
The 'Family Name' was not recorded in the burial register on 101 occasions. Frequently 
these resulted from bodies found in the bush or the drowned. Only the 21 with a 
'Christian Name' have been listed here (two had 'Family Names' which were illegible) 
the entry otherwise being meaningless.
 
The 'Christian Name' was not recorded in the burial register on 102 occasions. In 
a few instances where the unnamed woman was described as 'married' it has been possible 
to ascertain her name from marriage registers using pointers such as age and parish. 
Similarly in a few instances it has been possible to ascertain the name of infants 
using baptismal registers using the same pointers.
 
The 'Age at Death' was all too frequently not recorded and even more temptingly 
recorded just as 'infant' or 'adult'. The  State Archives records described all 
children less than ten years old as infants but thankfully the exact age would be 
recorded in the burial register. Again using baptismal records it has been 
possible to ascertain a reasonable estimate of the age. In other cases, if the deceased 
was a convict or if an occupation of some sort was recorded, a reasonable assumption 
could be made that the person was an adult. Even better if the deceased was or had 
been a convict, the ships indent often provides a reasonable estimate of the age. 
Taking these matters into account in the final listing there were still 148 'infant' 
entries and '317' adult entries.
 
The ages at death were obviously not supplied by the deceased and are prone to 
considerable variation compared to other sources, such as the census data or shipping 
indents, but the recorded figure has been preserved in this list. In those instances 
where no age of death was recorded it was sometimes possible to calculate it 
from other sources as well. The age is unknown for 465 (9%) entries.
 
The ages ranged from fifteen stillborn babies and those who only survived a few hours 
to at the other end of life's scale, where some of the ages are quite fanciful, 
(people seemed to like exaggerating the age of the elderly) for example Ann Inch 
is recorded as 104 years when in fact she was closer to 83, William Bond was supposedly 
109 and John Wright 108 both unsupported by collaborating evidence.
 
The  'Civil Status at the Time of Death' was mostly provided in the burial register 
when the deceased was either a child or a serving convict. Sometimes free arrivals 
were recorded as 'emigrants' (notice the home country bias which quite reasonably 
still strongly persisted at the time, when from the colony's point of view they 
were 'immigrants'). Otherwise the civil status recorded is the result of personal 
research.
 
The arrival status of only 75% of the deceased has been found. There were 4,461 
convicts or former convicts (35%), 239 were military or former military (2%), 765 
came free (6%) and 4,208 were colonial born (33%). Finally there were 269 burials 
where the deceased was described as "free" but it is uncertain whether this means 
came free, born free or free by servitude (2%).
 
The 'Ship of Arrival' was only ever recorded in the burial registers if the 
deceased was a serving convict, the 'Year of Arrival' never. Regrettably in 1839 
the 'Ship of Arrival' column was removed from the official forms altogether, it 
was still occasionally recorded but nothing like as often as previously. This change 
made the identification of the deceased all the more difficult. All too frequently 
it will be noted that a ship of arrival is recorded but not the year. The ship 
of arrival as recorded may not have been correct. This is because the informants 
may not have known with certainty the ship of arrival, which may have been 
decades earlier. In the case of women it may be because she was buried under her 
married name or her maiden name which may have differed from that recorded on the 
convict shipping indents. Thus when the deceased's ship of arrival cannot be 
confirmed by reference to the relevant shipping indent the year of arrival has been 
deliberately omitted. Even so the ship and status upon arrival are the major 
details contributed by personal research for this volume.
 
The 'Cause of Death' was sporadically recorded by the various parishes and can 
usually be found in the 'End-Notes' at the end of the burials but one parish, Scots 
Kirk Sydney, meticulously recorded this for all entries.
 
Amongst the usual deaths from drowning or being burnt to death there were the 
murders often followed by a hanging. William Collins, Dominic McCoy, Robert May, 
Thomas Williams and George Wright were all 'killed in a mutany' on Norfolk Island. 
Charles Holdsworth at Sydney and a Mr Franks and his shepherd at Port Phillip District 
were killed by the natives. William Barnes was killed by a fall from his horse and 
Charles Kirkwood was killed by a dray running over him.
 
As a vivid reminder of the brutality of the assignment system, if one is indeed needed, 
is the case of John O'Donnell, who committed suicide rather than be returned to 
his master.
 
Somebody really "had it in" for the Callagan family; in the single year of 
1837 the father Peter was 'found drowned with every appearance of being murdered', 
then the daughter Catherine was accidentally burnt to death and finally the son Michael 
was 'willfully murdered by a horrid crime being committed upon him'.
 
Of the three lifetime milestones, the identity of the deceased is the most difficult 
to ascertain. In the case of births there are three reference points to help in the 
identification; the father, the mother and the child. In the case of marriages, there 
are two; the bride and the groom. But of course there is only the one for the deceased. 
Added to which the information is often supplied by family and friends who may 
not be certain of the ship of arrival nor the age nor even the exact name of the deceased.
 
The identification of the deceased is disappointingly low this decade, for reasons 
mainly to do with the vast inflow of free arrivals to the colony, who unlike their 
convict counterparts, were much less well documented. Overall the identification 
rate was only 57%; for the various denominations the rates were; Anglican 57%, 
Catholic 57%, Presbyterian 68%. There were marked differences as well between 
parishes: from 90% for St Johns Wilberforce, 87% for St James Pitt Town, 85% for 
St Thomas Port Macquarie (in the tiny parish of St Thomas Sackville Reach 57 of its 
58 deceased were identified) to just 35% for St James Melbourne, 41% for St 
Phillips Sydney, 46% for St Johns Parramatta. Another stumbling block was with 
the colonial born, whom we have seen made up a very large proportion of the 
deceased, because identification is virtually impossible without their baptismal 
data and since so many died too young to be baptised or were not otherwise 
baptised this source was unavailable with the result large numbers could not be 
identified - for example at St Marys Sydney of the 316 colonial births, the parents 
of 247 (78%) could not be found or at St Laurence  Sydney of the 240 colonial born, 
the parents of 114 (48%) could not be found.
 
Not all deaths were recorded in church burial registers. Just how many will probably 
never be known but certainly many more deaths occurred in the colony than those 
recorded in this list. Where these additional deaths are known they come from several 
sources used for this work.
 
Firstly there were 237 deaths collected from the Pioneer Register Project with no 
corresponding burial found. Exactly where the descendants found this information 
is not always clear but presumably there must be some source document to back 
up their claims. 
 
Secondly the 1828 Census (which is the gift which keeps on giving to family historians) 
in Appendix 2 lists 413 convicts who died between November 1828 and April 1834, 
recording the year and month, but not the day, of death. Of this number 220 are 
recorded as dying in between 1831 and 1834 and of these, 53 have no corresponding 
burial record so have been added to this list with the burial date missing.
 
Thirdly another 24 deaths were collected from other miscellaneous sources which again 
have no corresponding burial record. 
 
During this decade only 66 hangings could be found, with 23 of these not being recorded 
in church burial records (including the seven executed for the Myall Creek massacre 
in 1838).
 
What is apparent in studying all this data, is that at this period of colonial 
life, death, and infant death in particular, was all pervasive.
 
Of the 12,856 deaths, 3,890 were for children aged five and below, a full 30%. 
This percentage varied from denomination to denomination and from parish to parish. 
In Anglican parishes the infant mortality averaged 28% whereas it was 47% in 
Presbyterian parishes, why this huge difference was so would be interesting to 
ascertain. The two parishes located at Parramatta had two of the highest percentages 
recorded; 46% at Anglican St Johns and 63% at Catholic St Patricks. The obvious reasons 
for these high figures being the presence of three institutions in the parishes; 
the Female Factory and the Female & Male Orphan Institutes. On the other hand, parishes 
in penal settlements had much lower figures; 4% at Norfolk Island (admittedly the 
records at not complete for this parish) and 7% for Port Macquarie.
 
It is so sad to read in many instances where the death of the mother is recorded 
and then shortly afterwards the death of her infant child. Although rarely recorded 
as such, death in childbirth was a constant threat for young mothers at this time.
 
There were 64 duplicate entries, these have been preserved on this list in order 
to be able to locate the relevant baptism on the duplicated church register. Almost 
half originate from St Peters Maitland, there being no Catholic parish in the area 
at the time, 119 burials were performed by 'friends' (presumably Catholic) and 
twenty five of these were later recorded in St Josephs Maitland's register when 
it opened. Similarly there not being a Presbyterian parish, visiting Presbyterian 
ministers recorded 22 of the burials in St Peters register. Many of the 
Anglican/Anglican and Presbyterian/Presbyterian duplications resulted from 
ministers having responsibilities at several parishes at the same time and 
accidentally duplicating the entry. The denomination pairs are listed in the table 
below.
 
  Table 5.1. Denomination Pairs
 
 Anglican/Catholic 33
 Anglican/Presbyterian 13
 Anglican/Anglican 7
 Presbyterian/Presbyterian 10
 Presbyterian/Wesleyan 1
 
Records have been collected from ninety five different parishes and are listed in 
table below. 
 
 Table 5.2. Original Sources
 
 Anglican: 82.3%
 SJS 2,107 19.9% 16.4%
  SPS 1,786 16.9% 13.9%
 SJP 1,555 14.7% 12.1%
 SLL 767 7.2% 6.0%
 SLS 630 6.0% 4.9%
 SMW 465 4.4% 3.6%
 HTK 454 4.3% 3.5%
 SPEM 448 4.2% 3.5%
 STPM 363 3.4% 2.8%
 CCN 315 3.0% 2.4%
 SPR 207 2.0% 1.6%
 SJ-M 155 1.5% 1.2%
 SPCO 151 1.4% 1.2%
 CCC 146 1.4% 1.1%
 SPC 146 1.4% 1.1%
 ASSF 145 1.4% 1.1%
 NK-I 100 1.0% 0.9% 
 SAKP 83 0.8% 0.6%
 SSG 77 0.4% 0.6%
 SJW 67 0.6%  0.5%
 SJPT 53 0.5% 0.4%
 L-H 51 0.5% 0.4%
 WOLL 49 0.5% 0.4%
 STSR 28 0.3% 0.2%
 Other 224  2.1% 1.7%
 Catholic: 11.4% 
 SMS 861 58.7% 6.7%
 SMWR 178 12.1% 1.4%
 SPP 202 13.8% 1.6%
 SJMR  85 5.8% 0.7%
 Other 140 9.5% 1.1%
 Presbyterian: 6.1% 
 SAKS 445 56.7% 3.5%
 SKS 109 23.9% 0.8%
  EKPH 45 5.7% 0.3%
 Other 186 23.7% 1.4%
 Wesleyan-Methodist: 0.2% 
 SYDW 19 0.2% 
 Hebrew: 
 SYDH  1 
 Other Denominations: 
 Other 4 
 
 
 Table 5.3. Church and Parish Codes
 
 AAC : Anglican Parish of Australian Agricultural Company 
  ABM : Anglican Parish of Arkstone; Burroowa; Merringo 
 ALTH : Anglican Parish of Althorpe; Brougham; Invermein; Rowan 
 ASHF : Anglican Parish of Ashfield
 ASSF : All Saints Sutton Forrest 
 BATW : Wesleyan Chapel Bathurst 
 BERR : Catholic Parish of Berrima  
 BHMS : Scots Kirk: Butterwick; Hinton; Middlehope; Seaham 
 BOWE : Scots Kirk: Bowenfels; Vale of Clwydd 
 BROU : Scots Kirk Broulee 
 BUNG : Anglican Parish of Bungonia 
 BWD : Anglican Parish of Burwood  
 BR-W : Anglican Parish of Brisbane Water 
 CANB : Anglican Parish of Canbury; Lake George; Queanbeyan 
 CABR : Anglican Parish of Cabramatta
 CAMB : Scots Kirk: Cambellfield; Melbourne; Port Phillip District
 CCC : Christ Church Castlereagh 
 CCN : Christ Church Newcastle 
 DENB : Scots Kirk: Denbie; Hunter District; Maitland Morpeth; Paterson; Singleton 
 EKPH : Ebenezer Kirk Portland Head 
 ELDN : Anglican Parish of Dungog; Eldon; Raymond Terrace; Stroud; Uffington 
 GEEL : Scots Kirk Geelong Port Phillip District 
 GOUL : Catholic Parish of Goulburn 
 HAWK : Scots Kirk Hawkesbury District
 HOUG : Anglican Parish of Houghton 
 HTK : Holy Trinity Kelso 
 ILLA : Catholic Parish of: Illawarra; Wollongong  
 KIAM : Scots Kirk: Kiama; Illawarra District 
 L-H : Anglican Parish of Lower Hawkesbury
 MACD : Anglican Parish of MacDonald; Colo River 
  MBWM : Wesleyan Chapel Moreton Bay 
 MELB : Scots Kirk Melbourne Port Phillip District
 MONT : Anglican Parish of Montefiores; Wellington District
 N-RT : Catholic Parish of: Newcastle; Raymond Terrace 
 NBUE : United Evangelical North Brisbane (Moreton Bay District) 
 NKIR : Catholic Parish at Norfolk Island 
 NK-I : Anglican Parish at Norfolk Island 
 P-HW : Wesleyan Chapel Portland Head  
 PARW : Wesleyan Chapel Parramatta 
 PENR : Anglican Parish of Penrith 
 PITT : Independent (Congretational) Pitt Street Sydeny 
 PM-H : Hebrew Temple Port Macquarie 
 PT-S : Holy Trinity Port Stephens 
  RAYT : Anglican Parish of Alnwick; Butterwick; Clarence Town; Middlehope; Raymond Terrace; Seaham
 SAKP : St Annes Kissing Point 
 SAKS : St Andrews Kirk Sydney 
 SAPM : St Andrews Kirk Port Macquarie
  SDH : St Davids Hobart, Van Diemens Land
 SF-M : St Francis Melbourne, Port Phillip District 
  SJC : St Johns: Camden; The Oaks; Picton; Stone Quarry 
 SJCR : St Johns Campbelltown - Roman Catholic 
 SJL : St Johns Launceston
 SJMB : St Johns: Brisbane; Moreton Bay  
 SJMc : St Josephs MacDonald River 
 SJMR : St Josephs Maitland 
 SJP : St Johns Parramatta 
 SJPT : St James Pitt Town 
 SJS : St James Sydney 
 SJSR : St James Sydney - Roman Catholic  
 SJW : St Johns Wilberforce 
 SJWO : St Johns: Oakville; Whittingham; Wollombi 
 SJ-M : St James Melbourne Port Phillip District
 SJ-S : Scots Kirk: Jervis Bay; Shoalhaven 
 SKB : Scots Kirk Bathurst 
 SKBG : Scots Kirk: Bungonia; Goulburn  
 SKDG : Scots Kirk Durham & Gloucester
 SKP : St Andrews Kirk Parramatta 
 SKPS : Scots Kirk Pitt Street 
 SKS : Scots Kirk Sydney
 SKSI : St Andrews Kirk Singleton
 SKSV : Scots Kirk: St Vincent; Murray & Auckland
 SKW : Scots Kirk Wollongong 
 SLKS : St Lawrences Kirk Sydney  
 SLL : St Lukes Liverpool 
 SLS : Christ Church St Laurence Sydney
 SLSC : St Lukes Scone 
 SMA : St Marks Appin  
 SMB : St Michaels: Bathurst; Kelso 
 SMKW : St Matthew's Kirk Windsor 
 SMMC : St Mary Magdalenes: Clydesdale; South Creek 
 SMS : Catholic St Marys Sydney 
 SMW : St Matthews Windsor 
 SMWR : St Mathews Windsor - Roman Catholic
 SNP : St Nicholas Penrith  
 SPC : St Peters Campbelltown 
 SPCO : St Pauls Cobbitty 
 SPCR : St Peters: Cooks River; Petersham 
 SPEM : St Peters East Maitland
  SPKC : St Peter's Kirk Campbelltown 
 SPP : St Patricks Parramatta 
 SPR : St Peters Richmond 
 SPS : St Phillips Sydney 
 SPSR : St Patricks Sydney - Roman Catholic
 SSG : St Saviours Goulburn
 STM : St Thomas Mulgoa 
 STPM : St Thomas Port Macquarie 
 STSR : St Thomas Sackville Reach 
 SYDH : Hebrew Temple Sydney 
 SYDW : Wesleyan Chapel Sydney  
 WHIT : Scots Kirk Whittingham 
 WINW : Wesleyan Chapel Windsor 
  WOLL : Anglican Parish of Dapto; Wollongong
 YASR : St Augustines Yass 
 YASS : Anglican Parish of Gundaroo; Gunning; Yass 

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