I Love This Place

I love this place.

I didn't think I would, but I do.

When I first came over from Canada– to marry Libby the lovely wonderful Australian I met volunteering on an archaeology project in Greece–, well, I knew things would be different, but I had not imagined how very much different my life would be....  Likewise, when I came to Rookwood, I could not believe the place:  incredibly huge, such crazy variety of trees & plans & monuments– absolutely fantastic for someone like me with a lifelong passion for old stones & trees & cemeteries.

Derek Williams, the General Manager of the Anglican & General Trusts, had invited me to come and have a look at Rookwood on the basis of the cemetery conservation work that I have done in Canada & which I had presented to the National Trust of Australia (NSW) Cemeteries Committee.  Little did I know what awaited me within the gates, the future that would embrace me here, or...  that it was a 20 minute walk to find the office even after I was INSIDE the cemetery:  even with a map I was completely overwhelmed.  And the sun:  it burned! The whole place looking both verdant and scorched...  overgrown and sunburnt.  Fantastic.

During my first official tour of Rookwood, I met Gordon Brown:  the spectacular & venerable monumental inscriber, mason, and lead-letterer who has inhabited Rooky for ages (say 50 years)...  just like his father before him.  His warm welcome, great stories, and friendly appeal that 'we could use some more good people'...  well, I already started to get a feeling, albeit very slight, of home.


Enough already:  I meant to just start this blog by quickly saying that I have come to love this place...  and I'm hoping to share photos and stories and maps and some of the all sorts of interesting things that are discoveries to me as I work here...  and from my 20 minute walk inside work every morning!