St Patrick’s Cemetery, situated on Pennant Hills Road in North Parramatta, is the oldest formally established Catholic cemetery in Australia. The earliest headstones date to 1824, with records suggesting this location was in use as a cemetery from as early as 1822, when Father John Joseph Therry sought assistance for the construction of a Catholic Church in Parramatta. A gothic sandstone mortuary chapel was erected in the centre of the cemetery in c.1844, and is recognised as the oldest in Australia. It is estimated that more than 2,000 individuals were buried within the grounds of St Patrick’s Cemetery throughout its 150 years of operation, although only approximately 400 burial monuments remain today. The cemetery was officially closed in 1972 and was transferred to Parramatta City Council in 1975. The cemetery was listed on the NSW State Heritage Register in March 2012, as a site with heritage values of State and National significance.
Figure 1. Location of cemetery
Council has received NSW Heritage funding to update the existing Conservation Management Plan (CMP), which was adopted in 1995 prior to the cemetery being listed on the State Heritage Register. The updated CMP will provide a comprehensive framework to guide the ongoing management, conservation and interpretation of the cemetery, in line with current best practice.
Get involved and have your say!
Council invites you to share your feedback on a Conservation Management Plan being prepared for St Patrick’s Cemetery. This feedback will help us understand how the community values the cemetery, how it is currently used, and what matters most for its future management, conservation and interpretation.
Your input will help shape the updated plan and ensure the cemetery is managed in a way that respects its heritage significance while meeting community needs and expectations.
Feedback is welcome until 5pm on Wednesday 29 July 2026.
Written feedback is invited via:
All feedback will be carefully considered before a decision is made by Council.
Next steps
Once consultation has closed, a report will be presented to a future Council meeting incorporating any public comments. To stay updated on this project, please FOLLOW this page.
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