Bourke Historic Cemetery

Bourke Historic Cemetery

Five ancestors are buried in the Bourke Historic Cemetery at Bourke NSW, along with 27 other close relatives who are specifically named listed below. Click on the picture of any of the ancestor memorials to see a page with specific information about it. Click on the names of the 27 other relatives to see their memorial page on the Find a Grave website.

Ancestors resting here

The following five ancestors are buried in this cemetery.

• James Reed 1808-1898 and Frances Heazle 1812-1895 – who have one of the cemetry's most prominent gravestones
• Ellen Ruby Murphy nee Bowen – 1882-1912
• Alice Clarkson Poulton 1860-1927 – who shares a grave with her daughter, Ellen Ruby Murphy
• James Kessey – 1858-1944 who is a former Mayor of Bourke

Other family members resting here

Many of the descendants of James and Frances Reed are buried here, including six children and seven of their spouses. The children include John Benjamin Reed (buried 1881), George Charles Reed (buried 1909), Jane Elizabeth Maxwell (buried 1924), Eliza Johnson (buried 1925), Sarah Ann Brennan (buried 1832) and Mary Ann Farrell (buried 1934). There are also two daughters-in-law - Eliza Jane Reed nee Green (buried 1879) and Mary Ann Reed nee Peters (buried 1944) and four sons-in-law - George Samson Gibb (buried 1875), Henry Johnson (buried 1911), Timothy Farrell (buried 1926) and Joseph Maxwell (buried 1929).

James and Frances Reed were predeceased by 17 grandchildren, including William John Reed (buried 1865) and his sister Frances Eliza Reed (buried 1875), who are also buried in this cemetery along with a great many other descendants.

Several children of Alice Clarkson Bowen (siblings of Ellen Ruby Murphy) are also buried here, including Thomas William Bowen (buried 1896), Ivy May Williams (buried 1940) and Elizabeth Alice Thorne (buried 1981). Aunt Ivy's husband (James Henry - Harry - Williams), son (Cornelius Bowen - Con - Williams) and daughter Ellen Ruby Williams are also here. Con was a surviving POW from Changi. Ellen Murphy's daughter Leila Alice Barton (buried 1994) and her husband Jack Barton (buried 1973) are also here along with a large number of other members of the Barton family. Ellen Murphy's niece Lilian Mary Honeyman and Lilian's father Sidney Honeyman are here. (Lilian's mother, Alice Mary - Min - Honeyman, is buried in Orange NSW.)

The cemetery also contains the graves of James Kessey's brother Hilton David Kessey and Hilty's wife Josephine Veronica Kessey; and James' daughter Grace Martin and her husband and Garnet Sydney Martin. There are also many other members of the Martin family in the cemetery.

In addition to these five ancestors and 27 other close relatives, many other members of the wider family are also interred in this cemetery.

James Murphy is not buried here

Note that it is a common misconception that the James Murphy who was buried at Bourke in 1914 was our ancestor, the husband of Prudence Murphy nee Reed. This is not the case. Prudence's husband lived for a further five years and was buried in Rookwood Catholic Cemetery on 7 November 1919. The evidence for this is contained in my report: James Murphy's Demise.