Cookies help us to understand how you use our website so that we can provide you with the best experience when you are on our site. To find out more, read our privacy policy and cookie policy.
Manage Cookies
A cookie is information stored on your computer by a website you visit. Cookies often store your settings for a website, such as your preferred language or location. This allows the site to present you with information customized to fit your needs. As per the GDPR law, companies need to get your explicit approval to collect your data. Some of these cookies are ‘strictly necessary’ to provide the basic functions of the website and can not be turned off, while others if present, have the option of being turned off. Learn more about our Privacy and Cookie policies. These can be managed also from our cookie policy page.
Strictly necessary cookies(always on):
Necessary for enabling core functionality. The website cannot function properly without these cookies. This cannot be turned off. e.g. Sign in, Language
Analytics cookies:
Analytical cookies help us to analyse user behaviour, mainly to see if the users are able to find and act on things that they are looking for. They allow us to recognise and count the number of visitors and to see how visitors move around our website when they are using it. Tools used: Google Analytics
Social media cookies:
We use social media cookies from Facebook, Twitter and Google to run Widgets, Embed Videos, Posts, Comments and to fetch profile information.
St David's Park Monuments Conservation Management Plan
Project Background
The City of Hobart recently commissioned a Conservation Management Plan for the historic headstones and monuments located in St David’s Park. The report outlines the cultural significance of these items and examines issues regarding their physical condition. The report establishes policies for the ongoing care and management of the headstones and monuments.
St David’s Park was Hobart’s first public cemetery, with initial interments occurring in 1804, within a few months of the arrival of British colonists. The cemetery continued to be used for new burials until the establishment of Cornelian Bay Public Cemetery in 1872. The cemetery was converted into a park in 1926, resulting in the removal of most of the grave monuments and headstones. Many headstones were salvaged and stored haphazardly around the perimeter of the park, but in the 1970s an effort was made to preserve these headstones within a series of memorial walls, constructed in the eastern corner of the park next to the newly-built Supreme Court complex.
Most of the surviving headstones are sandstone, which is a relatively soft material, susceptible to the ravages of wind and rain. The finely carved lettering and ornamentation on the nineteenth century headstones is gradually becoming illegible, and in some instances has disappeared altogether.
The headstones are physical reminders of Hobart’s early colonial history and represent some of the earliest funerary artefacts in Australia. This significance, combined with the precarious physical condition of the stones, poses important philosophical questions about their future. Should they be removed and placed in a museum; should a new building be constructed over the existing walls in an attempt to halt further decay?
The draft Conservation Management Plan, which was prepared with informed input from key stakeholders has concluded that the headstones should not be moved from St David’s Park, as they are important in understanding the history of the park, and are located within their general historical context. The document also warns against trying to re-cut or touch-up the lettering, accepting the patina and gradual weathering of the stones as a product of time. The report outlines a number of measures for monitoring and stabilising the headstones within the existing memorial walls – with the general principle of inhibiting or at least slowing the inevitable process of decay.
Stakeholder Engagement
In April 2019 the City of Hobart held a workshop with key stakeholders and heritage experts in order prepare a strategy for the conservation of the St David's Park monuments. The outcomes of this workshop helped shape the Draft Conservation Management Plan.
During November 2020 the City will be engaging further with key stakeholders who participated in the previous workshop. The outcomes of this engagement will help to finalise the Conservation Management Plan. Stakeholders will be contacted directly by the project team.
Project Background
The City of Hobart recently commissioned a Conservation Management Plan for the historic headstones and monuments located in St David’s Park. The report outlines the cultural significance of these items and examines issues regarding their physical condition. The report establishes policies for the ongoing care and management of the headstones and monuments.
St David’s Park was Hobart’s first public cemetery, with initial interments occurring in 1804, within a few months of the arrival of British colonists. The cemetery continued to be used for new burials until the establishment of Cornelian Bay Public Cemetery in 1872. The cemetery was converted into a park in 1926, resulting in the removal of most of the grave monuments and headstones. Many headstones were salvaged and stored haphazardly around the perimeter of the park, but in the 1970s an effort was made to preserve these headstones within a series of memorial walls, constructed in the eastern corner of the park next to the newly-built Supreme Court complex.
Most of the surviving headstones are sandstone, which is a relatively soft material, susceptible to the ravages of wind and rain. The finely carved lettering and ornamentation on the nineteenth century headstones is gradually becoming illegible, and in some instances has disappeared altogether.
The headstones are physical reminders of Hobart’s early colonial history and represent some of the earliest funerary artefacts in Australia. This significance, combined with the precarious physical condition of the stones, poses important philosophical questions about their future. Should they be removed and placed in a museum; should a new building be constructed over the existing walls in an attempt to halt further decay?
The draft Conservation Management Plan, which was prepared with informed input from key stakeholders has concluded that the headstones should not be moved from St David’s Park, as they are important in understanding the history of the park, and are located within their general historical context. The document also warns against trying to re-cut or touch-up the lettering, accepting the patina and gradual weathering of the stones as a product of time. The report outlines a number of measures for monitoring and stabilising the headstones within the existing memorial walls – with the general principle of inhibiting or at least slowing the inevitable process of decay.
Stakeholder Engagement
In April 2019 the City of Hobart held a workshop with key stakeholders and heritage experts in order prepare a strategy for the conservation of the St David's Park monuments. The outcomes of this workshop helped shape the Draft Conservation Management Plan.
During November 2020 the City will be engaging further with key stakeholders who participated in the previous workshop. The outcomes of this engagement will help to finalise the Conservation Management Plan. Stakeholders will be contacted directly by the project team.
