Conserving the Monuments of St Davids Park
City of Hobart is seeking advice on how best to conserve the monuments in St
David’s Park, particularly those that are set into the memorial wall.
Austral Tasmania in conjunction with Purcell and International Conservation
Services have been engaged by the City of Hobart to prepare a Conservation
Management Plan (CMP) for the headstones and monuments in St David’s
Park. To assist in the preparation of the CMP, consultation was undertaken
with about 40 representatives of a wide range of stakeholders such as
historical societies, descendant groups and conservation practitioners.
Park was originally Hobart’s first cemetery. At least 900 people were buried in
St David’s Cemetery before the cemetery was closed in 1872. Some burials were
relocated to the Cornelian Bay Cemetery and other headstones were moved from
their original location. In 1926 the Cemetery land was laid out as a
park. Some of the surviving headstones were later (c.1980) set into a
wall where they remain displayed today. Other monuments are located in the
northeast corner of the park.
The workshop provided an opportunity
for participants to contribute to a better understanding of the values of the
monuments both individually and as a whole including the monuments as part of
the memorial wall. Additionally, the significance of St David’s
Park as a burial place, a public park and a cultural landscape within Sullivans
Cove was also considered. The consultants presented some of the challenges
faced in conserving the monuments and sought input on some of the options being
considered for making decisions on the future of the monuments.