Curio

State Library of New South Wales
William T. Lewis, undertaker, Gulgong

William T. Lewis, undertaker, Gulgong

1872
Glass photonegative

The establishment of William Thomas Lewis, Undertaker and Carpenter, was primitive, but his funerals were said to be carried out ‘with his usual taste and completeness’. In 1871, Gulgong lacked a suitable place for burials, despite the considerable mortality rate among the young. In April 1871 alone, nine children died in a fortnight. In January 1872, there were 37 deaths in Gulgong (including 21 children under five years) and 17 births.

From the Sydney Morning Herald, 18 June 1872

HillEnd being now in the vigour of its youth, and altogether occupied in business matters, does not appear to have become alive to the necessity of a place for the dead, and Governments have something else to do than to provide graveyards unasked If the intervention of a certain hon. member of the Legislative Assembly could be secured, there cannot be a doubt but that the district, like that of Hartley, would soon be able to boast of the luxury of half a dozen cemeteries, and have money to fence them in too. [The Sydney Morning Herald, 18 June 1872, p3]