Michaela C.
Yelp
Hey Doc! Rev up the DeLorean in front of Woolies, yell "Great Scott!" and find yourself transported in time (but not in space) to 1832.
Gone are the Sydneysiders congregating on the steps of the Sydney Town Hall. Gone are the steps, pillars, "fanciful" roof, and the multi-facing timepiece. In fact the impressive, sturdy, Victorian, sandstone building is gone altogether! In its place is a quiet, secluded, and very neglected graveyard: The Old Sydney Burial Ground. A cow aimlessly strolls between the headstones whilst chewing on some cud, and a stray goat and a couple of pigs are also nearby. Closer inspection reveals the permanent citizenry of the necropolis are a motley crew: a cacophony of convicts, freemen and military men. The oldest tombstones are dated 1792. Many of the graves are vandalised and lying open. Great Scott! Something decidedly untoward just wafted up out of one of them!
It is already quite dark and there is some movement over in the shadows. Grave robbers digging up another grave to purloin the leaden coffin, no doubt. Ah! Not this time - though, evidently, a common enough occurrence. No, this time it's just your average Piddlin' Pete relieving himself after a big night.
...
When the construction of the Town Hall commenced in 1869, many of the remains were exhumed and moved to a mass grave, marked by a monument, at Rookwood Necropolis. However, only those graves that were directly in the path of the construction were removed so there are, in fact, still graves containing skeletal remains being unearthed on site in the Town Hall basement. (I'm still coming to terms with the realisation that, having danced at the Town Hall in the past, I was effectively dancing on the grave of one of my convict ancestors! A thieving con by the name o' William Innes).
Tours showcasing these archaeological excavations are not currently offered on site, but there is nothing stopping you from parking yourself in front of Woolies and fashioning a DeLorean out of your grey matter so you can visualise what was once on the site of the Sydney Town Hall and what still lies beneath! If you need a bit of a stimulus to get your ol' noggin DeLoreanified, Google the "Old Sydney Burial Ground" to see historical sketches of how the burial ground used to look.
As for me, it's high time I got back to the future.
* Review originally written and posted 23 February 2013.