0.1.A – Eleanor McCabe aka Eleanor Magee and Mary Magee Memorial

Eleanor Magee grave, Elinor Magee, Eleanor McCabe, Mary Magee, St. John's Cemetery Project, First Fleet, First Fleeter, Camellia, Parramatta, Old Parramattan — Close-up of E. W. Searle, “Wayside grave of Elinor Magee and two children, Parramatta, New South Wales, ca. 1935,” PIC P838/904a LOC Cold store SEA Box 7, http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-141920104, retrieved 5 April 2019. **Courtesy of National Library of Australia**.

Burial Location

Epitaph

The (erroneous) 1920s transcription made from the original headstone.

Here lyeth the body of the much lamented
ELINOR MAGEE [sic], and her beloved infant,
IAN MAGEE [sic: MARY MAGEE], who were unfortunately drowned
in returning from Sydney, January, 1793.
The unhappy off-spring of an affectionate
father was two years old, and its mother
in 32nd year of her age.
Forbear, kind husband, weep no more, ’tis vain
Who … folks complain [sic: When heav’n decrees, ’tis folly to complain]
A most loved wife and babe are laid,
Who, bound from Sydney sunk below the wave
Reaching the home beyond the narrow grave
Thither the hapless husband oft shall roam,
To drop the willing tear upon the tomb,
And strive to deprecate their closing breath.

Parish Burial Register

Burial of ELEANOR McCABE aka ELEANOR MAGEE

Burial of MARY MAGEE

Biographical Content

Michaela Ann Cameron, “The ‘Wretched,’ ‘Rascally’ and ‘Depraved’ Magees and the Story of St. John’s First Burial,” St. John’s Online (2019).

Citation

St. John’s Online (stjohnsonline.org), “Memorial: Eleanor McCabe aka Eleanor Magee and Mary Magee, (0.1.A), 1 Grand Avenue, Rosehill, parish of St. John’s, Parramatta,” (2022), https://stjohnsonline.org/memorials/0-1-a/, accessed [insert current date]