1811 and 1825, there was a considerable number of burials in the cemetery who were early ex-convict arrivals. Many were later joined by their families and descendants in the cemetery. A high number of older grave markers also survive, many of them for ex-convicts who arrived in the earlier period. Of all Macquarie's cemeteries, Wilberforce has the most interments with the highest proportional representation of ex-convict settlers from the First to the Third Fleets. Windsor has more convict burials but they arrived later. Richmond cemetery is dominated by free arrivals. The original Pitt Town cemetery does not exist any more. Castlereagh cemetery was largely unused. Liverpool cemetery has been destroyed. Of the burials at Wilberforce from 1811 to 1825, 36% were interments of convicts who arrived before 1800. A total of over 70 people who arrived before 1800 are buried there and a number of original gravestones or markers remain from the early period. The earliest one dates from February 1816. Wilberforce Cemetery has exceptional significance for the State of NSW and for Australia. The place has a strong or special association with a person, or group of persons, of importance of cultural or natural history of New South Wales's history. It meets this criterion of State significance because it was one of the five cemeteries founded by Governor Lachlan Macquarie as one of the core functions of the five Hawkesbury towns he established in 1810 and has a strong association with him. Wilberforce Cemetery demonstrates Macquarie's policy of ending the burial of deceased persons on their landholdings by establishing consecrated burial grounds in each of the towns he established. It contains a considerable number of interments of convicts who arrived before 1800. Many of them founded families who continued to live in the area. Additionally, since Wilberforce was one of the original "hearth" areas of the colony from where settlers fanned out to settle other districts, the Wilberforce Cemetery has significance for settlers across a broad expanse of the state. Wilberforce Cemetery has high significance for the state of NSW and for the nation under this criterion. The place is important in demonstrating aesthetic characteristics and/or a high degree of creative or technical achievement in New South Wales. It meets this criterion of State significance because Wilberforce Cemetery was an integral part of Governor Macquarie's scheme of creating towns with distinctive core functions aimed at improving the morality and