When the the Necropolis Cemetery opened at Haslem's Creek, west of Sydney, in 1867, there were seven portions, each with their own Trustees, as set out in the N.S.W. Government Gazette - Church of England (53 acres 3 roods; with five trustees); Roman Catholic (39 acres; five); Presbyterian (11 acres 1 rood; five); Wesleyan (6 acres 1 rood; six); Independent (5 acres; six); Jews (2 acres 1 rood; five); and the General Cemetery (58 acres; five, including second named T. SPENCE, my great-great-grandfather).
These are now reduced to two organisations - the Rookwood General Cemeteries Trust, and the Catholic Cemetery Trust.
The General Cemeteries Trust now uses a refined Zone identifier in their on-line indexes and maps - and in several cases (for the Anglican and Jewish portions) have removed those identifying Denominational labels, which can lead to some confusion if read without using their map.
These "new" Zones can be summarized as follows:
Zone A - Old Methodist; Presbyterian; Old Independent; Old Jewish; and Old General.
Zone B - Old Anglican, including Naval.
Zone C - Anglican Extension, between Haslem Drive and Hawthorne Avenue.
Zone D - Anglican, to the east of Hawthorne Avenue and Necropolis Drive.
Zone E - Remainder of Anglican; Serbian and Russian Orthodox portions; Armenian and Assyria; all north of the Weeroona Road entrance.
Zone F - Independent Extension; New Methodist Extension; Greek Orthodox; Eastern Orthodox; Lutheran/Estonian; Ukrainian.
Zone G - The larger part of Jewish Extension west of Hawthorn Avenue.
Zone H - Additional Jewish, between Hawthorne and Blashki Avenues; Chinese; Anglican Lawns; War Graves.
Zone I - Indo-Chinese; Chinese; Orthodox.
Zone J - Muslim, both north and south of the Catholic Mortuary 2-3 Section.
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I am one of the many photo volunteers for the Sydney area, and my special interests are Rookwood, Waverley and South Head cemeteries, although I can and do get to other cemeteries as needs may and do arise.
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A particular note.
Many memorials for burials in R.C. portions (Old Mortuary 1 and the extension Mortuaries 2 and 3) have been created from the on-line burial index, and due to an unclear and ambiguous indexing process, these appear with the alpha/numeric section identifier being mistaken for a Row number. As far as I am aware, no cemetery index uses Row numbers - and the only source for Row numbers does appear to be the 1980's full transcription of all standing stones that was done by volunteer members of the Society of Australian Genealogists (of which I am a member), and which transcriptions are now available, by license of the Society, on the Findmypast.co.uk and Ancestry.com web-sites. Use of these Row numbers from that source should sensibly acknowledge S.A.G. copyright.
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To other volunteers, this sincere message. Thanks for all your efforts - and for the slight "frisson" arising from the chase (those thank you notes can indeed be very heart-warming) - and please be advised that if I happen to post another photo on a memorial for which you have already fulfilled a photo request, or created for posting a photo, I absolutely intend no disrespect. I only find out that a photo is already there after I have done all the processing to my daily take, and if an image on the desk-top is clearer or more readable, then I post it as an extra option for descendants who might some day come across the memorial, rather than sending it irretrievably to trash.
As do most other Rookwood volunteers, I avoid the use of the "claim" option when fulfilling photo requests. As a result, I do occasionally "suffer" what is referred to in the real-estate industry as having been gazzumped!
I do not copyright the photos that I post - the epitaphs on gravestones are, in my view, not up for any of us to "claim" private ownership over, unless, perhaps, we are a direct descendant of those named on the stones. Other findagrave members are free to use the photos that I post, and, while I do not insist upon it, due recognition of the source is always a "good-citizen" thing to do, at least in family history circles. Further, I will continue to offer un-tagged photos, taken as part of a request fulfilment, on memorials with photos already there which have been subjected to a copyright tag. Especially, says he ever-so-slightly mischievously, if I have been gazzumped by another volunteer who has inadvertently taken advantage of my having tidied the plot of debris and cleaned the gravestones on it!

When the the Necropolis Cemetery opened at Haslem's Creek, west of Sydney, in 1867, there were seven portions, each with their own Trustees, as set out in the N.S.W. Government Gazette - Church of England (53 acres 3 roods; with five trustees); Roman Catholic (39 acres; five); Presbyterian (11 acres 1 rood; five); Wesleyan (6 acres 1 rood; six); Independent (5 acres; six); Jews (2 acres 1 rood; five); and the General Cemetery (58 acres; five, including second named T. SPENCE, my great-great-grandfather).
These are now reduced to two organisations - the Rookwood General Cemeteries Trust, and the Catholic Cemetery Trust.
The General Cemeteries Trust now uses a refined Zone identifier in their on-line indexes and maps - and in several cases (for the Anglican and Jewish portions) have removed those identifying Denominational labels, which can lead to some confusion if read without using their map.
These "new" Zones can be summarized as follows:
Zone A - Old Methodist; Presbyterian; Old Independent; Old Jewish; and Old General.
Zone B - Old Anglican, including Naval.
Zone C - Anglican Extension, between Haslem Drive and Hawthorne Avenue.
Zone D - Anglican, to the east of Hawthorne Avenue and Necropolis Drive.
Zone E - Remainder of Anglican; Serbian and Russian Orthodox portions; Armenian and Assyria; all north of the Weeroona Road entrance.
Zone F - Independent Extension; New Methodist Extension; Greek Orthodox; Eastern Orthodox; Lutheran/Estonian; Ukrainian.
Zone G - The larger part of Jewish Extension west of Hawthorn Avenue.
Zone H - Additional Jewish, between Hawthorne and Blashki Avenues; Chinese; Anglican Lawns; War Graves.
Zone I - Indo-Chinese; Chinese; Orthodox.
Zone J - Muslim, both north and south of the Catholic Mortuary 2-3 Section.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
I am one of the many photo volunteers for the Sydney area, and my special interests are Rookwood, Waverley and South Head cemeteries, although I can and do get to other cemeteries as needs may and do arise.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
A particular note.
Many memorials for burials in R.C. portions (Old Mortuary 1 and the extension Mortuaries 2 and 3) have been created from the on-line burial index, and due to an unclear and ambiguous indexing process, these appear with the alpha/numeric section identifier being mistaken for a Row number. As far as I am aware, no cemetery index uses Row numbers - and the only source for Row numbers does appear to be the 1980's full transcription of all standing stones that was done by volunteer members of the Society of Australian Genealogists (of which I am a member), and which transcriptions are now available, by license of the Society, on the Findmypast.co.uk and Ancestry.com web-sites. Use of these Row numbers from that source should sensibly acknowledge S.A.G. copyright.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
To other volunteers, this sincere message. Thanks for all your efforts - and for the slight "frisson" arising from the chase (those thank you notes can indeed be very heart-warming) - and please be advised that if I happen to post another photo on a memorial for which you have already fulfilled a photo request, or created for posting a photo, I absolutely intend no disrespect. I only find out that a photo is already there after I have done all the processing to my daily take, and if an image on the desk-top is clearer or more readable, then I post it as an extra option for descendants who might some day come across the memorial, rather than sending it irretrievably to trash.
As do most other Rookwood volunteers, I avoid the use of the "claim" option when fulfilling photo requests. As a result, I do occasionally "suffer" what is referred to in the real-estate industry as having been gazzumped!
I do not copyright the photos that I post - the epitaphs on gravestones are, in my view, not up for any of us to "claim" private ownership over, unless, perhaps, we are a direct descendant of those named on the stones. Other findagrave members are free to use the photos that I post, and, while I do not insist upon it, due recognition of the source is always a "good-citizen" thing to do, at least in family history circles. Further, I will continue to offer un-tagged photos, taken as part of a request fulfilment, on memorials with photos already there which have been subjected to a copyright tag. Especially, says he ever-so-slightly mischievously, if I have been gazzumped by another volunteer who has inadvertently taken advantage of my having tidied the plot of debris and cleaned the gravestones on it!