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Rowes Hill Anglican Cemetery, Mittagong NSWDate:
Last year was a wet one all over Australia. Nationally, the rainfall was 26% above average. In New South Wales, that figure was 55% above average. Many areas, including the Sydney CBD, experienced unprecedented flooding. One wet day last November I found myself driving down a back road in the Southern Highlands of NSW. That was an experience. About 20% of the road surface was washed away. Pot-holes and cracks were so deep that no sane person would have driven straight ahead and I was having a hard time finding solid road to drive along. I was concentrating very hard on the road and so it is not surprising that I almost missed it!! I wasn’t looking for cemeteries. I was on my way to a wedding. But there it was – a tiny country graveyard. The things you find when you least expect it. I hadn’t seen any signposts. They may be there and I missed them. But I was on Old South Road, Mittagong. I knew I couldn’t stop. I was already running late because of the slow progress I’d been making. But I quickly pulled out my phone and “pinned” my location so that I could find it again.
The cemetery is small. Just one acre in old money! And it has the atmosphere of gentle decay that one comes to associate with cemeteries that are no longer in active use. In some places the grave stones are remarkably well preserved, while in others time and mother nature are taking their natural course.
And the address on the sign is not the address of the cemetery. It is the address of the Wingecarribee Council Offices in Elizabeth Street, Moss Vale. Very confusing!! THE HISTORY OF THE CEMETERY A history of the Rowe’s Hill Anglican Cemetery can be found on the Berrima District Historical and Family History Society website along with a very comprehensive database of the burials at Rowes Hill (or Rowe's Hill). The database includes some biographical information that has been compiled from various sources and is available as a PDF document.
"Land at Lower Mittagong was first taken up during the 1820s along the Argyle or Old South Road, as it later became known. As the area became more populated and with the nearest cemetery, church and school some distance away, the need for such amenities became paramount.
"No definite date can be established for the first burial in the cemetery site. The earliest existing headstone is dated 1868, however, it was not until 1871 that Thomas Troy conveyed the one acre cemetery site to Reverend James Samuel Hassall of Berrima, Clerk in Holy Orders, and Trustees, to be used as a burial ground in connection with the United Church of England and Ireland in the colony of New South Wales. "Upwards of 800 people are believed to be buried in this cemetery in both marked and unmarked graves, with 450 individuals listed on existing headstones. The cemetery has been in continuous use since at least 1868 with many of the area’s pioneers buried within its boundaries, including Thomas Troy and his family. "During the late 19th and early 20th Century, a number of children from the Mittagong State Farm Homes were buried here. The younger babies were buried along the southern fence line. No headstones mark the graves of these forgotten children. "The name Rowes Hill Cemetery is derived from the location of the cemetery on the hill known locally as Rowes Hill. The Rowe family had extensive landholdings in the area during the 1800s. Management of the cemetery now known as Rowes Hill Cemetery was transferred from the Anglican Church to Wingecarribee Shire Council in the year 2000."
MAP AND DIRECTIONS To get to Rowes Hill Cemetery, take the Hume Motorway from Sydney and turn off onto Alpine Way at Colo. When you reach the intersection with Old South Road, turn right (south) towards the Mittagong airport. I recommend using a Navigator of some kind.
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The next afternoon I found an opportunity to retrace my steps and find the cemetery. I still didn’t know its name, but I knew I could find it again. I was lucky. The sun was shining and it was a lovely mild spring day in the country. I was able to spend a couple of lovely hours, wandering among the graves, sitting on the bench under the trees, and generally soaking it all in.
The Cemetery is located between Mittagong and Bowral, beautiful countryside, with some vineyards among the varied properties where all types of primary industry seem to thrive. From the high point in the cemetery you can look out across the vines to the fields and pastures beyond. All very tranquil. The silence isn't just about being in a cemetery. There is very little passing traffic and or any industry to disturb you.
And, as it turns out, there is a sign by the roadside. I had simply missed it! This is the only reference I found to Rowe's Hill with an apostrophe. Given that it was named after the family who owned the hill, and that the family's name was Rowe, I think this is correct. But the locals all call it Rowes Hill.
There is a sign in the cemetery that is dedicated to the pioneers of Mittagong and surrounding areas and was erected by Wingecarribee Shire Council and the Berrima District Historical and Family History Society which told me something of the history of the cemetery. The sign says:
"In 1854, farmer Thomas Troy purchased 500 acres of land at Lower Mittagong. Soon after, he donated two acres in the northern corner of his land for public use. One acre was for the establishment of a church and school and the other acre for use as an Anglican Cemetery. The first building on the site, used as both school and church was a simple slab and bark structure built in the mid-1850s. It was replaced by a more substantial stone building in 1862. The same year the church /school land was transferred from Thomas Troy to the Sydney Diocese of The Church of England.
My father's maternal ancestry includes a family called Sheather. Two brothers, James and Henry, their cousin Stephen, and their sisters Hannah (Potter) and Elizabeth came to New South Wales as part of the 
