Memorial Markings: A study of the change over time to fonts at the Manly Quarantine station and Rookwood Cemetery

Abstract

This thesis analyses the changes in font styles used in the historical inscriptions at the Manly Quarantine Station and Rookwood Cemetery. The changes to the fonts used at each site will be compared to the changes to fonts in other areas of society, such as printed typography and handwriting. The analysis of this change is considered to be important as the changes in font can be linked to the changes in social values, aesthetic tastes and technological development. Despite the topics potential to yield this information, studies of font change are rarely the main topic of a study. Font change is usually used as a tool for other research or is only a very small section of a larger analysis. The methods used in this thesis are those which were first used on rock art assemblages, as change over time is an important topic of study in this area. These methods have since been used to study assemblages of historical inscriptions and graffiti. As the data from both sites had dates inscribed into the writing, a study of the change over time was possible with a reasonable degree of accuracy and ease. The data from the Manly Quarantine Station was collected from Wendy Thorp’s 1983 consultancy report cataloguing the inscriptions at the site. Only the inscriptions with dates which were legible to the decade were recorded, creating a sample of 164 inscriptions. The data from Rookwood Cemetery was collected for this study by a survey of the graveyard. A sample of ten gravestones from each decade between, and inclusive of, 1860 and 1970 was collected. The data from each site was then analysed individually. The results from each site were compared with each other and with the changes to the fonts in printed media and the preferred style of handwriting that was being taught over the same time period. There were changes identified at both sites. The attributes of the fonts which showed change at both sites included the use of serifs and the technique for the creation of the inscriptions. Each of these changes was different at both sites. The capitalisation of the inscriptions as a whole did not change over time at either site. The inscriptions at the Manly Quarantine Station had a positive correlation with both the changes to printed media and the changes to the methods and styles of handwriting which was being taught at schools. The inscriptions from Rookwood Cemetery have not linked with the changed to printed media or handwriting educational practice, meaning that other influences on font change are present at the site.