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Dr Charles MacCarthyPrint Page Print this page

15-August-2018
15-August-2018

Photographs supplied by Heather Stevens

The monument over the grave, was erected by Irish friends and admirers, to commemorate Dr Charles MacCarthy (1848 - 1919).  

In 1884, he graduated M.D. at the University of Brussells and was admitted a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. In poor health, he emigrated with his family to Sydney in the same year. He soon established a wide practice in St. Elizabeth Street, he was known as a gentle and skillful Surgeon. He became Honorary Physician and Surgeon at St. Vincent’s Hospital and Personal Physician to Cardinal Moran.

Prominent in Catholic and Irish Committees, he was Chairman of the ‘98 Centenary Celebration Committee in Sydney and designed the Monument over the grave of Michael Dwyer, the ‘Wicklow Chief’, self-exiled to Australia in 1805. He had a natural talent for music, painting and sculpture. He composed several comic operas, wrote patriotic songs, lectured and wrote on music and in 1912 helped to establish Tom Moore Concerts in Sydney. Though self-taught, he excelled as a Sculptor. Sarah Bernhardt sat for him, for a portrait of Cleopatra, although his paintings were mostly of a religious theme. His best works as a sculptor were probably a life size bust of Napoleon, exhibited at the 1915 International Exhibition in San Francisco, and the Statuette “Ills ne Passeant Pas”, embodying the Spirit of France. He was also gifted with a beautiful singing voice.

It is fitting indeed that all that is mortal of the late Dr. Charles W. MacCarthy should rest in Waverley Cemetery under the shadow of the '98 monument, erected over the graves of Michael Dwyer, the Wicklow chief, and his wife Mary, to commemorate the men and women who suffered in Ireland during the rising of 1798. The late Dr. Macarthy was chairman of the '98 commemoration committee, and one of the most patriotic sons of Ireland, and it was chiefly through his labours that the imposing  memorial — probably the most beautiful in the Southern Hemisphere — was erected in the centenary of the rising, 1898. On Sunday afternoon a number of friends of the late Dr. MacCarthy, and admirers of the work he performed for his native land, assembled in Waverley Cemetery to witness the unveiling of a monument to his memory. 
 
The ceremony was performed by Very Rev. Father P. B. Kennedy, O.F.M., assisted by Rev. Father J. C. Bartley, O.F.M. The monument, which takes the form of a Celtic cross on a raised pedestal, is of Carrara marble, erected on solid brick foundations. The base and kerbings are of brown stone. The height of the cross is 10ft. 6in. above the base, its width at the base being 3ft. 6in. Ivy leaves, lilies and passion flowers entwined are employed in the tracery in the front of the cross. 
Advocate (Melbourne), 5th April 1923.

Location

Address:St Thomas & Trafalgar Streets, Waverley Cemetery, Bronte, 2024
State:NSW
Area:AUS
GPS Coordinates:Lat: -33.907222
Long: 151.264167
Note: GPS Coordinates are approximate.
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Details

Monument Type:Grave
Monument Theme:People
Sub-Theme:Medicine
Link:http://adb.anu.edu.au/

Dedication

Actual Monument Dedication Date:Sunday 25th March, 1923
Front Inscription
In memory of Charles William MacCarthy, M.D., F.R.C.S.I.
 
Chairman of the '98 Memorial Committee.
 
A man of unbounded charity and of great talents, being a painter, sculptor, musician and writer.
 
Born in Fethard, Co. Tipperary, Ireland, March 31, 1848.
Died, June 7, 1919.

It is not the tear at this moment shed.
When the cold turf has just been laid o'er him.
That can tell how belov'd is the friend that's fled,
Or how deep in our hearts we deplore him. — Moore.
 
Requiescat In Pace.
 
Erected by some Irish friends and admirers.
Source: MA, ADB
Monument details supplied by Monument Australia - www.monumentaustralia.org.au