eHive Object Details

Name/TitleJames & Mary Graham and William & Rebecca Rucker : Old Melbourne Cemetery, c. 1920

About this objectPhotograph of two monuments. In the foreground is the large square tomb over the remains of James Graham, "the merchant politician", and his wife Mary Alleyne Graham and four children. Behind this tomb, top left of the image, can be seen the inscription on the side of the chest tomb of William Frederick Augustus Rucker. More gravestones can be seen in the background as well as the cemetery fence and buildings, on the other side of a road, hidden by street trees.

The Graham monument is described by Selby as "Hip ledger granite stone on a bluestone base". There is an elegant two-bar metal rail mounted on the edge of the granite step. The texts are inscribed in white on two sloping sides of a low monument on the top. The details of James and Mary can be clearly seen in the photograph. The details of their children must be inscribed on the slope facing away from the camera, and we have to rely on Selby for their names.

The inscriptions read: (215 in Selby's grave index p. 385 OPMHoM)

Sacred to the Memory Of (gothic script)
JAMES GRAHAM
Late of "Elibank", South Yarra.
Born 5th Febry 1819. Died 31st July 1898.
And Of His Wife
MARY ALLEYNE
Born 27th Augst 1828. Died 7th Augst 1886.

(children - Anna Maria Ievers, James Moore, Anna Maria, and Edith)

Selby directs us to the announcement of James Graham's death which appeared in The Argus on August 1st, 1898, under the heading "Nearly Sixty Years a Colonist." We also learn he left five sons and four daughters, but there is no mention of his late wife who bore him thirteen children. A full account of his life can be found in The Australian Dictionary of Biography. Selby devotes a paragraph to Graham. (p. 132, OPMHoM)

The Rucker chest tomb with a moulded top is described by Selby as a "marble sarcophagus... white tomb with letters in gold."

The inscriptions read: (214 in Selby's grave index p. 385 OPMHoM)

WILLIAM FREDERICK AUGUSTUS RUCKER
Died 2nd March, 1882.
"Inasmuch as ye have done unto one of the least of those,
My brethren, ye have done it unto me."

REBECCA RUCKER
Died 8th May, 1850.
"Blessed are the pure in heart"

William Frederick Augustus Rucker, he usually used his full name, died at Darling Street, South Yarra. According to Selby, William Rucker opened the first bank in Melbourne, "a branch of the Derwent Bank from Van Dieman's Land... also father of... our oversea shipping trade." (p. 128, OPMHoM)

The Derwent Bank branch later merged with the Union Bank and Rucker became a director. After building a very expensive mansion on an elevated block, now called Rucker's Hill in Northcote, Rucker went bankrupt and the Union Bank took over his estate. (Trove webpage)

This image is attributed to Everard Studley Miller who photographed many graves and tombstones in the Old Melbourne Cemetery (established in 1837) around 1920 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 KeywordsGraham, James, 1819-1898.

Subject and Association KeywordsRucker, William Frederick Augustus, c. 1807 - 1882

Subject and Association KeywordsMonuments and memorials

Subject and Association KeywordsChildren

Named CollectionImages collection

Object numberGS-TM-25

Copyright LicenceAll rights reserved