Rookwood Open Day

    Rookwood will be having it's open day again this year on the Sunday 14th of September.  The open day will run from 10am to 3pm and include a variety of events like historical talks, parades, crematorium tours, and more.  There will also be multiple stalls and exhibitions from funeral homes and historical groups. So there's certainly plenty to do!


When: 14th September, 10am to 3pm.
Where: Rookwood Cemetery, maps to each gate below.

Map to Rookwood East Gate.

Map to Rookwood West Gate.


For more information:

My post about exploring Rookwood, including how to get there, notable places, and maps.

Rookwood Map.

Rookwood 2014 Open Day Flyer (PDF).

Rookwood 2012 Open Day.

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Thanatourism: Rookwood

    Rookwood is the largest cemetery in the Southern Hemisphere.  It has a rather interesting history and is a wonderful cross-section of Sydney population over time.  Originally it was intended and designed for leisure, as a place for people to enjoy.  Because it was quite a trip out of Sydney they deliberately designed it for people to spend the whole day there.  When one went to visit a grave they would also enjoy the place.

Hidden exhibition.

    Unfortunately this has vanished, as people distanced themselves from funerals after WWI.  So Rookwood was confined to state of avoidance.  People now only go here for a funeral or to visit a specific grave.  Almost nobody visits Rookwood just to explore.  A state which would make the original planners quite sad.

    In this post I explain how to visit Rookwood.  Some things to see, which ways to go and so on.  In the hopes of getting some to use it as intended.  It genuinely is an amazing place to have a picnic, equal to Waverley Cemetery or Hyde Park.

Rookwood open day

    The Rookwood open day was a blast.  There was so much to see and do, even though I was there almost 5 hours I only saw a few of the things on offer.  Everyone was nice and happy and the atmosphere was wonderful.

    Overall this was a great day, easily able to compete with any festival or open day in Sydney.  You can read my detailed explination of the day below.

Rookwood open day Photos

    The open day was amazingly great!  I had a lot of fun and learnt so much.  Everyone was friendly and up for a chat.  There was so much to see and do, I was there from 9:15am to 2:30pm and I didn't get to do everything.




    I'll write a popper post about the day later, when I have time.  But for now enjoy a selection of the 298 pictures I took.