In a shocking discovery, nearly 2,000 bodies have been exhumed from a sports field at a prestigious boarding school in Tasmania, with some buried as deep as six people down.
The excavation, considered Australia’s largest mass exhumation, has been a nine-month-long process at the Hutchins School in Hobart.
A Cemetery Beneath the Hockey Field
The discovery was made in March when contractors were carrying out construction work on the school’s hockey field. Unbeknownst to them, the site was once part of the Queenborough Cemetery, which was taken over by the Hobart City Council in the early 1900s.
The council had sold the site to the school in the 1960s, with a deal that included funding the exhumation of up to 1,900 bodies. However, it appears that not all of these exhumations had taken place before the school’s purchase.
Identifying the Deceased
A team of archaeologists worked tirelessly to identify the remains, using a range of sources including birth, death, and marriage records, headstone transcripts, newspapers, and incomplete burial registers. Despite their best efforts, they were only able to identify 87% of the deceased. In many cases, it was impossible to determine the separate identity of individuals within family plots.
A List of the Identified Deceased
The school has published a list of those identified on its website, which includes individuals ranging in age from infants to 99-year-olds. Some remains are believed to date back to the 1800s. You can find the list on the school’s website.
A Cemetery with a Rich History
The Queenborough Cemetery, which operated from 1873 to 1934, is believed to have held up to 13,000 bodies. The site was initially owned by a private company before being taken over by the Hobart City Council in 1917.
What’s Next?
The exhumed remains have been transferred into new coffins and will be reburied at the Cornelian Bay Cemetery in late January. A memorial service will be held at a later date. The identified names of the deceased will be included on new memorials at the Cornelian Bay and the Peel Street Memorial Reserve.
Hundreds More Bodies Believed to Remain
Despite the massive excavation effort, archaeologists believe that hundreds of bodies still lie beneath the school, with only about 15% of the cemetery site exhumed. It’s unclear what will happen to these remains, but for now, the focus is on giving the exhumed individuals a dignified reburial.
A Shocking Discovery
Historical archaeologist Brad Williams expressed his surprise at the number of bodies found, saying he had expected to find only a couple of hundred remains. The discovery of stacked burials, with up to six people deep, was particularly unexpected.