Grave Indifference

Graves of Robert Bayley and Lucy Jane Bayley, Dalton Methodist Cemetery (Photo by Garry Smith)

Ann Bayley (nee Alchin) died at Leichhardt, Sydney on 4 July 1914. She was born in Staplehurst, Kent and baptised on 7 July 1832. She came to the colony of New South Wales with her family of Bounty Immigrants in 1838 aboard the Palmyra.

The Sun (Sydney), Sunday 5 July 1914, p. 4.

Ambrose and Ann Alchin brought their family to the Gunning District in the late 1840s. They settled at Jerrawa. In 1855 at the age of 23 years Ann Alchin married Thomas Bayley at Gunning. Their son, Robert Bayley, was born in 1857; he married Lucy Jane Waters at Gunning in 1883.

Window dedicated to
Robert and Lucy Bayley

The Uniting Church in Gunning features a window dedicated to Robert and Lucy Bayley.

Their graves in the Methodist Section of the Dalton Cemetery are part of a cluster of graves of the Bayley and Waters families. The headstones and general grave presentations are within a well-cared-for cemetery.

In stark contrast is the last resting place of Robert Bayley’s mother, Ann Bayley (nee Alchin). Her grave at the Rookwood Necropolis, Sydney is notable for its poor presentation, its lack of coping or a headstone and its weeds.

Too often family historians discover the graves of their forebears in a regrettable state; no marker, no coping or border and headstones which are broken or illegible.

Ann Bayley’s plot at Rookwood is such a grave. It provides nothing tangible in the way of information to the family historian, save the reminder that some families may have been keen to invite family and friends to the funeral but did not have the wherewithal to leave their loved one with a lasting monument. Were they simply indifferent to the need for a lasting monument or just without the funds to do justice to their relative?

Garry Smith overlooking the grave of Ann Bayley, his great, great aunt, Rookwood Necropolis

Guest article by Garry Norman Smith