Lost Railways:
Woronora Cemetery Line
Jctn. (Sutherland) to Woronora Cemetery. Length: 0.7 km. Opened: 30 June 1900. Closed: 24 May 1947. LiftedThe Woronora Cemetery branch was a short line extending from the main line just south of Sutherland Station. It crossed over East Parade near the junction of Linden Street, and continued curving around to the north west, ending at the station. With the rise of the motor car, funeral trains declined and the service was eventually suspended. The line was never electrified, and in its final years the service was provided by a CPH rail motor.
Back in 1895, the 110 acres of gardens and lawns of Woronora Cemetery was then a brickworks. It was designated to become a racecourse, but at the last minute, the visionary Mayor of Rockdale, John Bowmer decides the community needs a place to remember loved ones in a setting of beauty and serenity, and the cemetery was born. In the early days, a mortuary train was a popular way of transporting coffins and mourners and a short line linking Sutherland Station and Woronora Cemetery. The Cemetery's current office stands on the site of the original platform.
In 1902 the Devonshire Street Cemetery was closed to make way for Central Railway Station and some of the deceased were relocated to Woronora. That is why several of the headstones here show dates even prior to our opening.
