St John’s Cemetery is Australia’s oldest surviving European cemetery, and the Friends of St John’s Cemetery community group are the dedicated volunteers committed to preserving and honouring the site and its residents.
Established in January 1790, St John’s Cemetery stands as a testament to the rich history of Parramatta, weaving together the stories of its people, culture and pivotal events that shaped the city.
The Friends of St John’s Cemetery, formed in June 2016, embody the volunteering spirit, drawing individuals from many different walks of life, including parishioners at St John’s Anglican Cathedral and those with personal connections through ancestors buried there.
The group meets regularly to maintain the historic site, removing weeds, cleaning up rubbish, and tidying burial sites. They have also established a regular mowing schedule of the 5-acre site, run community working bees and work with site owners St Johns Anglican Cathedral to organise necessary repair work.
Leading the charge is cultural historian Judith Dunn, who chairs the Friends of St John’s Cemetery Committee. Dunn generously donates her time to the perseveration of 8 different cemeteries in the Parramatta area, including St John’s and the heritage-listed St Patrick’s cemetery.
St John’s Anglican Cemetery was listed on the NSW State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.
Notable residents of the cemetery include Samuel Marsden, the senior Church of England cleric for the colony and magistrate at Parramatta, D’Arcy Wentworth, an Irish surgeon and first paying passenger to arrive in the new colony of New South Wales and Henry Dodd, the Superintendent of Convicts at the Government Farm. Dodd’s burial site is considered to be Australia’s oldest marked grave.
