CEMETERY INSCRIPTIONS

Cemeteries and graveyards are important primary sources in historical research. For funerary monuments are not simply a record of grief, loss or death - but they are documents in stone. This is especially true in New South Wales in the period prior to 1856 when it was not compulsory to record births, deaths and marriages. As a consequence, in many instances these early headstones of pioneers, settlers, convicts or officials may constitute one of the few surviving records of that person's life. Among some of the noteworthy examples are:

THOMPSON, Andrew (1773-1810)

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