Quarantine Burial Ground, Port Jackson

Artist John Skinner Prout (1805 - 1876)

Engraver Arthur Willmore (1814 - 1888)

Publisher London, Virtue & Co (Founded 1849)

Date1874

Object number00005538

NameEngraving

MediumInk on paper

DimensionsOverall: 205 x 274 mm

ClassificationsArt

Credit LineANMM Collection

Collections

For sickness and health - medicine in the collection

Terms

DescriptionSteel engraving titled 'Quarantine Burial Ground, Port Jackson' after an artwork by John Skinner Prout from around 1840. It was engraved by Arthur Willmore and appeared as plate six in the book 'Australia' by Edwin Carton Booth, London, Virtue & Co., 1874, Volume VI. The quarantine statoin located at North Head, near Sydney, was declared an official quarantine ground on 19 July 1837.HistoryOfficially established in 1837, the quarantine station was situated on the northern headland of Sydney Harbour had been acting as a site of isolation from at least 1828. The location addressed the growing need to isolate passengers and crew arriving aboard vessels suspected or confirmed to be carrying cases infectious or contagious diseases before they disembarked in the town of Sydney. Both healthy and sick people were disembarked on a sheltered beach where initially they were housed in tents. As the century wore on, more established buildings were built on the land above, including segregated areas, hospitals, staff quarters and a cemetery. The Quarantine Station’ first cemetery, seen here in the image by Prout, was located on a sloping area between Quarantine Beach and what was referred to as the healthy ground". The cemetery was in use from March 1837 and was the burial site for an estimated 228 people. The location of this cemetery, there would eventually be three different burial sites, had been established prior to the construction of permanent accommodation at the station. However, as permanent structures were built and a more systemised approach was set in place, it was clear that the location of this first cemetery was inappropriate. Most importantly it was deemed unhealthy due in part to the fact that much original water source ran through the area. The burial ground was moved in 1881 to higher ground.SignificanceFrom the early 1830s until 1984, nearly 16,000 people passed through the doors of the Quarantine Station in North Head near Manly. The site was a source of both hope and despair for many arrivals, an idyllic location on Sydney Harbour yet cut off from the new life in Australia they had travelled for.