Usually, when doing these posts, I keep things relatively light and jocular. Well, this suburb is made up entirely of a cemetery.
Rookwood
Sandwiched between Lidcombe and Strathfield, Rookwood is a historic cemetery which not-coincidentally fills up an entire suburb of the same name. I headed in on foot through the western gate from Lidcombe, unfortunately named "East Street Gate".
This is quite a large cemetery, covering around 1.5km east-to-west, and 2km north-to-south, so we'll see what I can cover.
Upon entry, I found some trees and, well, a really big cemetery.
It's not news that Sydney is a particularly diverse city, with folks from just about everywhere on earth calling this town home. As a result, Rookwood is equally diverse. One of the first tombstones I read here had an Irish inscription,
and many of the signs around are multi-lingual too.
But the diversity isn't just represented in a nineteenth century tombstone or warnings of petty theft, it's represented in how this "Necropolis" is laid out.
Death and burial is obviously an important part of many religions, and Rookwood has a burial section for what seems to be an endless list of faiths, from Islam, to Judaism, to just about every denomination of Christianity you can think of. On foot, I didn't have the manpower to explore every section, but I was definitely able to experience the macabre breadth of Rookwood by completing a little circuit of the place's northwest.
On my walk I found more 1800s tombstones, with inscriptions worn down over the decades,
some of which were part of some rather impressive sandstone monuments.
and a beautiful chapel nearby.
One thing I did find rather interesting is how the different faiths have different grave styles, with certain plots having rows of near-identical tombstones.
Continuing on, I stumbled upon a Jewish cemetery, identifiable by the lack of crosses, and Hebrew writing on some of the tombstones.
By the Jewish cemetery is an imposing Holocaust memorial which really needs no commentary.
You could spend all day looking at the the different ways humans leave tribute to the dead, between the ornate buildings,
the marble, sandstone and flowers,
and countless monuments,
but while this is a beautiful place, there is only so much time you want to spend in a graveyard.
As such, once I'd gotten enough of a feel for Rookwood, I made my way back west to the East Street Gate
and continued to my next suburb,
(via a few more Lidcombe streets).
Rookwood: A really big cemetery, but also a suburb.
And finally, before I sign off here, a brief announcement.
Due to the government restrictions as a result of a certain virus, I'm obviously unable to keep exploring Sydney's suburbs at the moment. Rookwood is the second last suburb that I "completed" prior to this apocalypse, and as such, my next post on Thursday is going to be the last normal suburb post until it's legal and responsible to get out and about again.
Thanks for reading, and stay safe.
you're still allowed to go out for exercise, just say you're doing exercise and go explore the suburbs
ReplyDeleteI'm not interested in putting fellow Sydneysiders at risk by skirting around for exceptions and technicalities. When exploring, I take a lot of public transport and cover large areas, putting me in proximity with plenty of people. It would be selfish and irresponsible for me to to continue with this at the moment for what is very much a "non-essential" activity.
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