A Cemetery and its Stories

Abstract

"Today as we re-consecrate the cemetery, we pray for the repose of all buried here, and make amends for the vandalism, which has been allowed to occur - the vandalism of time, of floodwaters, of neglect and of receding memories" (Rabbi Raymond Apple, 1979). Rabbi Apple was speaking at the re-consecration of the Maitland Jewish Cemetery in August 1979. He went on to talk about the importance of looking after what he described as 'waste places' so that they could become 'monuments to dreams and deeds'. He was reflecting on the history of the cemetery itself and expressing hope for its future. He was perhaps urging his audience to capture and preserve the stories, the messages, the memories and the sentiments that were flowing that day through the cemetery. He was also urging that the cemetery itself should be preserved and respected. Rabbi Apple's pleas have been heard. Over the years, stories have been collected, family histories researched, gravestone inscriptions transcribed, photographs taken. This work is drawn together here and expanded. More research, images, information and stories have been added. It is still, however, only a beginning to the story of the cemetery itself, the people buried there and the ways in which the 'dreams and deeds' of the cemetery offer windows onto life in colonial Maitland and the small Jewish community that once lived there.