A n erroneous impression prevails, no doubt strengthened by misconceptions of old colonists, that no white people were ever buried on this hill, and that the h u m a n remains admitted to be there were the relics of half-a dozen Aboriginals, thefirstw h o died in the Melbourne district after its European occupation. But there never was any reasonable ground for such a supposition. After the appropriation of a regular site for a burial-ground, some blackfellows and executed criminals were interred outside its Northern boundary, near the Eastern corner, a portion of the n o w Queen Victoria Market in Victoria Street. W h e n certain excavations were being m a d e there, the poor remnants of mortality were rudely disturbed, and those w h o were unable to account for the circumstance were only too willing to assign it to some terrible unatoned-for tragedies perpetrated during the exceptionally sensational crisis which marked thefirsttwo or three years supervening on the gold discoveries. There is a curious history connected with thefirstJewish burial-ground. It was a piece of land presented for the purpose by a Mr. Abraham, one of the early colonists. It was on a stony rise at the Merri Creek, between the n o w Northcote and Merri Creek bridges, and in no way adapted for such a mortuary purpose. T h e deceased was a lady of nineteen, a Miss Davis, the daughter of a Melbourne innkeeper. Previous to the interment a sexton was despatched to prepare a grave; but when he commenced to do so, he found himself working on what nature had designed for a quarry, and he was able to m a k e little or no progress downward. T w o quarrymen were enlisted to help him ; pick and shovel and crowbar delved away amongst the bluestone, and by the time the cortege had arrived the excavation was not half made. In fact the grave had to be absolutely quarried, and the funeral was delayed for several hours. At length Mr. Michael C a s h m o r e — o n e of our Corporation Inspectors in 1884—read the usual prayers, and Miss Davis might be said to have found a resting-place in a sort of rude sarcophagus. Subsequently the coffin was exhumed and transhipped to Hobart T o w n . A s a repetition of quarrying operations would be inconvenient on future occasions, the Jewish community applied to the Government for a burial-ground adjoining the reserve granted for a general one, and it was in some degree owing to the exertions of Mr. Ashur H y m e n Hart that the request was, after some delay, acceded to. It is a singular and melancholy fact that thefirstJew buried there was Mr. Lewis Hart, brother to A. H . Hart, by w h o m the obituary services were rendered. Mr. A. H . Hart afterwards had a handsome tombstone erected to the m e m o r y of the deceased. This m o n u m e n t bore thefirstHebraic inscription in the colony, and it was written by the bereaved brother.
THE OLD CEMETERY.
Unoccupied land abounded everywhere, and it had only to be asked for for public purposes. Accordingly an area of eight acres was assigned in 1838 as a public burial-ground. This space was afterwards extended to satisfy the demands of the various religious denominations. T h e Episcopalians obtained thefirstgrant, next the Presbyterians, and the Wesleyans, R o m a n Catholics, Independents, and other sects at various times. Though the Government freely parted with the land, no public funds were allowed for fencing, and for a while the cemetery was an open c o m m o n , trampled by cattle and horses and swine. T o remedy in some measure this disgraceful state of things recourse was had to a public subscription, and the preaching of charity sermons. T h e management of the cemetery was very defective, probably by reason of the divided proprietary. T h e heads of the several religious communities were culpable for their irreligion in this respect, as a simple regard for the dead ought to have impelled them to concerted action. T h e Government neither cared or interfered. T h e first male interred there was John Smith, a shepherd in the employ of Captain Pollock, a primitive settler in the Geelong district. H e was speared one day by the Aborigines, and his remains were brought to Melbourne for interment. T h e second tenant was a child of Mr. Skene Craig, the first Commissariat Officer in the province, and alive (1884) in England. T h e first female buried there was a young unmarried w o m a n named H a n n a h Mayne. A s the deaths recorded throughout the entire province in 1838 were only 20, and 67 in 1839, and as John Batman's funeral took place on the 8th M a y of the latter year, his was, probably, about the thirtieth interment in the Old Cemetery. A s to the necessity for keeping anything like a register of the
