One of Sydney's earliest suburban churches, St Anne's Anglican at Ryde was established circa 1826. Its cemetery appears to have begun around the same time, the earliest legible inscription extant being dated the same year. Rich in the history of Sydney, it records the passing of many notable citizens and pioneers of the time, including George Spurway, orchard overseer to Gregory Blaxland and Maria Ann Smith, who developed the renowned Granny Smith apple.
Internees at this Cemetery are listed at www.stannes.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Index-to-Graves-2008.pdf
In 1952, when Victoria Road was widened as part of the road bridge over Parramatta River, the remains of 27 persons and associated monuments were removed to the Field of Mars Cemetery at Quarry Road, Ryde. Those persons are listed at www.stannes.org.au/attachments/Index%20to%20Field%20of%20Mars%20headstones.pdf.
Today, the cemetery, although obviously having suffered at the hands of vandals over the years, is maintained in excellent condition. A number of broken headstones has been repaired and remounted, unfortunately not entirely without loss of inscription details. Some of the older inscriptions are badly weathered and eroded or flaking and are difficult or impossible to decipher with certainty.
Michael Brookhouse has contributed the digital images of all visible monumental inscriptions that he recorded at St Anne's in September 2011. The list of inscriptions was compiled with extensive reference to the NSW indices of births, deaths and marriages and to the Australian War Memorial online military rolls for additional information.
Plot b/r = Burial Register from "The Churchyard on the Hill" book