On our journey to and from White Beach our route took us through Richmond, a very old Tasmanian town est around 1825. On Easter Sunday we called into St John's, Australia's oldest Catholic Church. This is also where my father-in-law is buried.
Can you see the spire? It is all copper. St John's was built in 1836 and has a very old cemetary. It has spectacular stained glass windows but what really takes my breath is the beautiful Stations of the Cross. The parish ladies had done a wonderful job for Easter Sunday Mass with flowers on every window sill and flat surface. It looked very joyous.
The above pink sandstone a little left in this picture is the back of my father-in-law's headstone. The piece was excavated from one of the children's backyards and was found to be suitable and large enough for the headstone. This is also where my mother-in-law will lie and share this stone, with her second husband, beside her first husband and her beloved son Simon. The grave you see immediately next to Brian's, surrounded by a rail, is dated 1857. This older part of the cemetary is built on asmall but very steep round hill. I can't help but try to imagine hand digging the graves on such a slope. Consequently over the last 180 years with natural land slip and erosion, many of the older stones have slipped and are on a severe lean.
This is as close as I ever get to Tassie, so please keep the pictures coming. It is sad to read the headstones of little kids, gone before they really got to experience life. Thanks
ReplyDelete