eHive Object Details

Name/TitleConway family : Old Melbourne Cemetery, c. 1920

About this objectPhotograph of tombstone placed over the remains of Henry Conway and his three sons, John, Henry and James. Selby tells us in his "Memorial History of Melbourne" (p.385, ref.205), that this is "One of the better kept graves, railed, with a good stone." More tombstones can be seen in the background.

The slight curve of the gravestone top is decorated with spiral pattern. The inscription starts at the top of the stone allowing for additions over the years.

The inscription reads:
ERECTED
BY
HENRY CONWAY IN MEMORY
OF HIS SON JAMES WHO
DEPARTED THIS LIFE
THE 3rd APRIL 1849
AGED 2 YEARS

This infant bud so fresh and fair
Cut off by early doom,
Came but to show how young a flower
In Paradise can bloom.

HERE ALSO IS INTERRED
the body of the above-named
HENRY CONWAY
WHO departed THIS life
the 3rd July 1853
AGED 34 years.

HENRY CONWAY
son of the above, died 23rd December
1891, aged 47 years.

JOHN CONWAY
DIED 22nd AUGUST, 1909, AGED 66 YEARS

John "Jack" Conway was a well known sportsman who played first-class cricket and captained the Carlton Football Club. He organised the first Australian cricket tour to England in 1878, and wrote for The Age, Argus and the Sydney Morning Herald.

This image is attributed to Everard Studley Miller who photographed many graves and tombstones in the Old Melbourne Cemetery (established in 1837) in the 1920s as part of a project led by Isaac Selby to record and commemorate all aspects of Melbourne's second cemetery (the first being at Flagstaff Hill). The RHSV holds original glass negatives and albums of the photographs from this project.

One of the many glass slides purchased from retailers or specifically made for illustrated lectures given by Isaac Selby between c. 1930 and c. 1955 to raise money for the Old Pioneers Memorial Fund.

For more information about this image contact Royal Historical Society of Victoria.

MakerMiller, Everard Studley, 1886-1956.

Maker RolePhotographer

Measurements8.2 x 8.2 cm

Period1910-1920

Object TypePhotograph

Subject and Association KeywordsSelby, Isaac, 1859-1956

Subject and Association KeywordsMiller, Everard Studley, 1886-1956.

Subject and Association KeywordsOld Melbourne Cemetery (Melbourne)

Subject and Association KeywordsConway, John, 1842-1909

Subject and Association KeywordsMonuments and memorials

Subject and Association KeywordsChildren

Named CollectionImages collection

Object numberGS-TM-17

Copyright LicenceAll rights reserved