​FOR sale: one bluestone church with a historic grave included. 

It’s not a common sales pitch, but a piece of south-west history will go under the hammer later this month when the former Ellerslie Scots Presbyterian Church is auctioned. 

Included in the sale is the grave of Jemima Vans Robertson, a pioneer of south-west agriculture. 

Ms Vans Robertson bought and settled the 18,000-acre Connewarren run, west of Mortlake in 1870. She died in 1884 and her wish was to be buried on the grounds of the church she helped build. 

It is the only grave in the church yard and because it is not an official cemetery or on consecrated ground, it will be sold “in situ”. 

The church closed in December last year after 140 years of continuous worship.

There was a plan to move the headstone and railings from the grave to the nearby Ellerslie cemetery with Mrs Vans Robertson’s remains left behind. 

Congregation spokeswoman Merryl Tanner said the church had been in contact with Mrs Vans Robertson’s descendants who expressed concerns about that proposal.

“We have followed the family’s wishes and the grave will be left as is,” Mrs Tanner said. 

Mrs Vans Roberston’s great great granddaughter Barbara Taylor said the family had concerns about separating the headstone from the final resting place. 

“If there was a plan to exhume the grave and move everything, we would be okay with that,” Mrs Taylor said. 

“Our concern though was mainly about that separation.” 

The Mortlake and District Historical Society has done extensive research on Ms Vans Roberston, who was born in Morham in Scotland in 1800.

She arrived the Western District around 1852 after the death of her husband to be closer to her sister, Flora Dunlop, who was “mistress” of the nearby Hexham Park.

She brought and settled Connewarren, a significant land holding stretching from Mortlake to Hexham and down to Ellerslie.

It was divided into two holdings in 1870 – she stayed on Connewarren, while her nephew, Anthony McKenzie, took up the neighbouring Woolongoon. 

At the same time she donated two acres of land Ellerslie for the church. 

She donated ten pounds ($12,000) for the construction of the church, laid the foundation stone and donated 100 books for the Sunday school. 

Mrs Vans Robertson also owned significant land holdings at Peterborough, building one of the first houses in the township. 

She died at Connewarren in 1884, aged 84. Despite worshipping mostly at the church in Hexham with her sister, her wish was to be buried in the grounds of the Ellerslie church.

At the time of her death the estate was valued at 106,000 pounds, approximately $13,000,000 in today’s currency.