St John's Cemetery, Gordon
1867-2017 — 150 years

Every burial plot in the cemetery and every plaque in the columbarium has been recorded in the List of Burials and Cremations. This list can be accessed from the menu at the top of each page on this site.

The status of each plot is given in the 'Burial Reg. No.' column:

• A number indicates the number in the burial register.
• BB = believed buried here, but no Burial Register entry present.
• A = ashes placed in grave.
• C = commemorative plaque, buried elsewhere.
• NA = Details not available.
• UNKNOWN = It is not known whether the grave is occupied—the record is included for completeness and to indicate the location of the plot.

In the 'Row and/or Plot' column, a blank indicates that details could not be ascertained from available records.

In the 'Last Name' column, the word Unknown appears where the occupant of a plot cannot be ascertained from available records.

In the 'No, or illegible inscription' column, where an x appears, if there are other headstones for the plot, images of the other headstones are shown.

This list covers the period from 1867, the date of the first burial, to 2015. It is worth noting that the path through rows B to X runs between plots 18 and 19. However, the path through rows BB to XX is silently numbered as plot 19 in each row. Hence there is no plot 19 in the List of Burials and Cremations for rows BB to XX.

Burial numbers from the St John's Burial Register from 9 May 1867 to 5 April 1951, which is held by the Mitchell Library, Sydney, have been included in this list of burials. Entries for burials after this date have been taken from a list which was, for some time, displayed on the internet site of St Johns Anglican Church, Gordon, and from a list prepared by Jill Lyons in 1994.^1.

For the rest, details have been taken from monuments and plaques in the cemetery and on the columbarium walls. Online records at the NSW Births Deaths and Marriages internet site and newspaper records at the Trove internet site have provided additional information.

The Burial register shows no grave locations for the first 100 entries so that, unless a headstone has survived, the deceased's final resting place is usually unknown today.^{2. Page 27} Many other entries in the register do not show the location of the grave and in some cases where the location is shown it has been found to be in error when a headstone exists in a different location.

A number of commemorative plaques have been placed on graves where people have been buried elsewhere. The presence of a burial number in the burial register column is the strongest evidence that a person has been buried in the cemetery. The letter "C" in the burial register column indicates that a commemorative plaque has been placed on the grave, though the person might be buried elsewhere; the letter "A" indicates that ashes have been placed in the grave; and the letters "BB" indicate that the person is believed to be buried in the grave although no entry exists in the burial register.

Rows L and LL contain the unmarked remains of many babies, some buried over a century ago, often in communal graves.^{2. Page 26}

In 1931 the widening of St. Johns Avenue, adjacent to the cemetery, affected a number of graves. There were 18 reinterments, and relocation of the respective headstones, to a newly created row, XX. A number of graves, mostly of infants without headstones, remained where they were. At the same time, two additional rows, W and P, were made available from church land for future burials. Details of the graves affected are set out in a list accessible from the menu at the top of each page.^{2. Page 19}

References:

1. Pioneers at Peace: The Story of St John's Cemetery, Gordon, Jill Lyons, Spurwood Press, Sydney, 1994. (Includes comprehensive source material and a "Further reading" list.)

2. List of Burials and Commemorative Plaques, St John's Anglican Church, Gordon New South Wales, Cemetery and Columbarium. Prepared by Jill Lyons in 1994, held by Kuring-gai Public Library, Gordon.