Newcastle's first European burial ground still holds the remains of some 3300 original inhabitants.
Council assumed responsibility for the cemetery in 1961 and in 1972 work began on the conversion of the graveyard to a city park.
About 70 of the original headstones were in good enough condition to remain in Cathedral Park but were moved from their original locations although no burials were exhumed.
The Cathedral Park revitalisation will see new walkways created with better access to the park from King and Wolfe Streets and the ability for the community to use the park for recreation and events.
Newcastle City Council's Heritage Strategist, Sarah Cameron, says creating new walkways within Cathedral Park is a highly sensitive job, "Any sort of ground disturbance here could uncover skeletal remains,"
"Any time we suspect we've disturbed even a fragment of bone we will have our archaeologist here within 30 minutes, but the whole plan is designed to minimise any such disturbance."
"There's been extensive scientific research here with ground penetrating radar and so on performed before we've done anything. If you remove a tree, for example, then you have to remove the stump as well. If you remove the stump, you're going to be disturbing the ground so we've had to be very thorough and very diligent about our investigations in the park and any intervention so that we minimise the disturbance of the remains of those 3,300 people who rest here."
The cellar of the 1840s Mulimbah Cottage has been revealed and will be covered and protected.
The creation of Cathedral Park in the 1970s was done using quite a bit of recycled materials from the cemetery. Sarah Cameron says they will be recycled again, "The first iteration was monuments and footstones and grave surrounds, the second was to re-use those items in retaining walls, and the third now will be to use those items again in a very sensitive way and we don't contribute to any further deterioration."
Indeed some of the sandstone from the Laman Street works will be coming up to Cathedral Park.
"We had the most beautiful sandstone blockwork in Laman Sreet and we've been able to secure all of that material for use in Cathedral Park and it's just going to be beautiful."
More information about Cathedral Park and Christ Church Cemetery here.
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