Grave Tales Tour: Bush Religions and a horse called Mettle

Heritage Ventures

Historical Cemetery Tour to the last resting places of the ex-convicts, free settlers and ‘cornstalks’ of Mangrove Creek.

The Hawkesbury Duck

Join us for a walking tour of two historic cemeteries on Mangrove Creek with engaging historyteller Max Burns-McRuvie. Visit the last resting place of ex-convicts, free settlers and ‘cornstalks’ for surprising and fascinating facts about the way the dead were buried. The Grave Tales Tour starts with a morning tea at the Hawkesbury Duck museum space in Spencer where we hear about the rivalry between 'Proddy Dogs' and 'Papists' in the early colony. How religious needs in Mangrove Creek were served between 1840 and 1863 by the indefatigable Reverent Alfred Glennie who travelled around on his horse ‘Mettle’, visiting the sick and needy people of his large parish between Yarramalong, St Albans and Ten Mile Hollow.

Visit to the Holy Trinity Church and cemetery - land donated by William Woodbury in 1860. Learn more about the Roman Catholics of Spencer and Mangrove Creek, Irish uprisings, rouge papism and the great religious conversion in the mid 1800s.

Statue of Mary with Bernadette Soubirous at Holy Trinity Church. Image used with permission, Michael Bagnall.In the words of St. Bernadette: "I raised my head and looked towards the grotto. I saw a Lady dressed in white, wearing a white dress, a blue girdle and a yellow rose on each foot, the same colour as the chain of her Rosary."

The tour visits St Peter's Anglican Cemetery at Greengrove to read the headstones and point out what's unique or different about each one and the story behind the name and inscription. A focus is on notable and mysteries burials along with a few secrets about how to interpret the symbols on headstones.

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Grave Tales Tour: Bush Religions and a horse called Mettle

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Grave Tales Tour: Bush Religions and a horse called Mettle

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