PDA

View Full Version : A Decent Burial



kermie62
22-01-2009, 7:37 AM
This is an Australian show on the about

"examine changing attitudes to the dead and their burial, from the ad hoc early days of the penal colony in Sydney through to the late nineteenth century and the creation of the very grand Rookwood Necropolis.


Throughout the colony's early history there was an ongoing tussle between church and state for control of bodies of the dead, exacerbated by the struggle between church and church as Protestants and Catholics accused each other of impiety; while underlying all this was always the thorny question, 'What do we do with the bodies of the poor?"

Althopugh mainly pertinent to Australia, there are references back to the UK practices and customs and some surprises pertinent to family history. For example I didnt realise that sometimes people were buried in a denomination different to what they were baptised in because there were different burial charges for each area and if the person was poor, they would be buried in the cheapest section.

This program will disappear in a fortnight however I will retain a podcast of the program

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/hindsight/stories/2009/2451128.htm