What is the future of cemeteries?
I’ve just finished reading a very interesting article from ABCNews Journalist Dinah Lewis Boucher , that I wanted to share with you.
The situation is concerning particularly in our rapidly expanding population in South East Queensland, and Newhaven Funerals have been conducting ocean scattering of the families loved one’s cremated remains for years. Over that time we have seen a rise in the option to cremate.
Tim Connolly – Funeral Director Newhaven Funerals
I’ve republished some of the article here for you to read, the full article can be read here What is the Future of Australian Cemeteries
“Our cemeteries are filling up.
In death, as it is in life, land is a sought-after commodity. We’re dying to get in.
Our culture largely avoids the thought of death. Although talking about our mortality, and planning for what happens next— in a very practical sense — can be comforting.
Gillian and Geoff Senior, a couple from Camperdown Victoria, say its just “common sense planning for the inevitable.” And their afterlife plans are all sorted.
“It’s a simple approach that considers the environment,” Mrs Senior says of Kurweeton Road Cemetery, also known as Australia’s first ever vertical burial ground.
The couple, both in their eighties, have pre-booked their final resting place — a scenic open meadow surrounded by farmland in south-western Victoria.
Here, bodies are not embalmed, but instead frozen and placed in shrouds of biodegradable fabric before being placed — feet first — into the earth.
At Kurweeton, the dead rest standing vertically.
Mrs Senior says that for each person buried a tree is planted on nearby Mt Elephant, an extinct volcano, with the aim to offset carbon emissions.
“With normal cemeteries, there’s all of that concrete and we just think ‘what a waste,'” she said.
The landscape is kept in a natural state, there are no individual headstones or grave markers.
Instead, a memorial wall at the entrance of the cemetery provides the deceased’s name, coordinates and a grid reference for the precise location.
By 2042, ABS estimates the number of Australians aged 85 or over will have doubled from 2017 to more than a million people. The national stats also forecasts Australia’s annual number of deaths will more than double, from around 142,000 in 2012 to more than 300,000 by 2050.
Although, this urgent need for cemetery space is not unique to Australia, it’s a worldwide phenomenon.
Dr Hannah Gould, a cultural anthropologist from the University of Melbourne, says Kurweeton Cemetery is best understood as an attempt to “re-think the resources that are devoted to burying the dead”.
“This challenging of traditional norms is timely… Especially as we are facing serious consequences for how we use urban and regional space,” she says.
Dr Gould is part of the “Death Tech” research team – yeah, that’s a thing – a group of anthropologists, social scientists, and human-computer interaction specialists based at the University of Melbourne and the University of Oxford, exploring such issues on emerging alternatives to body disposal and the future of cemeteries.
And for good reason.
Housing the dead— a global dilemma
In Hong Kong, home to more than 7.6 million people, space is at a premium.
As land and space is increasingly limited, cemeteries around the globe have taken on new forms. And then there’s the shift to vertical, with the introduction of high-rise cemeteries.
The Memorial Necrópole Ecumênica in Santos Brazil is the world’s tallest. Since 1991, it has been listed in the Guinness Book as the tallest cemetery in the world standing more than 100 metres high.
Its website says the structure can house the remains of 25,000 people.
Dr Gould says such vertical burials shape city skylines, bringing “the dead back from the outskirts of town into the heart of an urban landscape”.
Sydney is home to thelargest operating cemetery in the southern hemisphere, Rookwood Necropolis. Spanning 314 hectares, it’s home to more than 1 million internments, 15 kilometres west of Sydney CBD, in the suburb of Lidcombe.
While a high-rise tower is not on the cards here, it is home to a mausoleum and above-ground crypts —catering for singles, couples and families — designed to meet urgent demand at Australia’s largest cemetery.
How about an eternal swim?
Known for its high-rises, Queensland’s Gold Coast City has considered building upwards in response to its own urgent need for cemetery space, although this was “ruled out” mid-last year by Mayor Tom Tate who said such skyscrapers would “be seen as inappropriate”.
But an underwater burial site like that built off Florida’s coastline in the United States, is still being explored.”
At Newhaven Funerals we conduct eco friendly funeral options including natural burials at Alberton Cemetery, however the land designated for this is limited at this time.
Newhaven Funerals has and always will encourage funeral planning ahead so that the burden of these decisions can be taken away from the family at their time of grief.
If you would like to learn more please contact the team at Newhaven Funerals on .
The original article published 10/7/2022 by Dinah Lewis Boucher – The full article can be found here https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-10/what-is-the-future-of-australian-cemeteries-/101174522
Tim Connolly Funeral Director – Newhaven Funerals
Tim Connolly – Funeral Director Newhaven Funerals Brisbane & Gold Coast. Growing up around funerals since the age of six allows Tim a unique understanding of how a family owned funeral business should be. Since leaving school in 1992 Tim has been deeply involved in all aspects of operating their family owned business, including operating crematoriums, memorial gardens and pet cremation business. Tim is always available to assist all clients with any request |
