Karrakatta Cemetery WA is being "RENEWED"

[bikermickau]

Going by some facebooks posts this is already happening.

https://www.mcb.wa.gov.au/our-cemeteries/karrakatta-cemetery/cemetery-renewal

Lack of space to conduct burials.
Future expansion is restricted by Karrakatta’s central location. At other MCB cemetery sites there are increasing external influences, such as the Bush Forever initiative, that are limiting the development of new burial land.
Whilst cremation is now the preferred service at Karrakatta, the religious and cultural requirements of approximately 20% of families ensures that there is a continued need for burial grounds.
Monuments on graves in areas where the right of grants have expired generally tend to fall into a state of disrepair and have the potential to become safety hazards.

Mick

[majm]

Yes,  this has been discussed several times here at RChat.  And a quick skim search will bring up Cando' s posts about this at least back in 2011.    So it is good to know that face book has caught up with RChatter info provided nearly a decade ago,    and of course good of Mick to remind us now too.

 

JM

[majm]

Here is one (of many) examples... 

......

The term, ‘cemetery renewal’ describes the practice of redeveloping existing cemetery burial areas to accommodate new gravesites and memorial locations. A cemetery renewal program has been continually operating at Karrakatta Cemetery since the 1970s.

For more information regarding the cemetery renewal program, please email mcb[at]mcb.wa.gov.au or contact Client Services on 1300 793 109.


Cheers
Cando

JM

[seeking0]

Thank you for posting this. I have several nth cousins buried there. I don't live in WA but have been making efforts to get photos of any relevant headstones. These days cemeteries take their own photos before they destroy headstones but there's no guarantee they will be all you might want.

Cemetery managements could do a lot better here IMO, with respect to vandalizing headstones in their own cemeteries. I strongly doubt that religious and cultural requirements dictate that shared grave sites cannot also be shared headstone sites.  I haven't tracked the details of what's happening at Karrakatta but commonly the remains of any previous burials remain at the site, so why not their headstones? There should be more respect, including not permitting new memorials that overwhelm the older ones.

[lynnieconn]

I live in Perth Western Australia and have family buried in Karrakatta Cemetery.  There are many graves that have fallen into disrepair they are sunken have damaged  surrounds and headstones.  The contact details for these graves are not current on the burial records, families either never visit or there are no families left.  If people have family buried at Karrakatta they need to ensure a current contact or contacts are kept updated with cemetery administration.  If anyone wants to see what is happening with Karrakatta Cemetery have a look at their website.  www.mcb.wa.gov.au

Lyn Connell

[seeking0]

Headstones from the first fifty years of local settlement are historic monuments and should ideally be preserved, or at the very least not vandalized by the management of the cemetery where they are located. Typically they have committees who evaluate the worthiness of the person interred or of the headstone itself to decide whether or not it should survive. One reason for not destroying the headstones now is that ideas about people's historic "worthiness" tend to vary over time (including who should be on the committee).
The older graves are the ones least likely to have family protection because that would require awareness of interment rights or even burial location to survive across several generations. Even my grandmother's headstone was destroyed because my aunt who died young had the interment rights, and that's just across two generations.

[majm]

In general, so not just Karrakatta ...

Of course, significant funding of these cemeteries needs actually continues to be ongoing for generation after generation ... And burials obviously occupy a far larger portion of land than cremated ashes.  When the land 'runs out' there is a huge set of decisions to be made.  Different generations and different cultures and even within families - they can all have their own traditions about death. 

An example ... Around the time Australia was becoming a Federation ... circa 1900 ...  Central Railway Station in Sydney NSW was built upon the former Devonshire Street Cemetery.  Re-internments were made for those whose descendants who knew this was available.  And earlier, around the 1820s Devonshire Street Cemetery had been the replacement cemetery for an earlier one in Sydney Town ... That earlier one was only built over when Sydney Town Hall was constructed.   https://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/learn/archives-history/sydneys-history/people-and-places/old-sydney-burial-ground

 The question becomes:  who is responsible for the ongoing funding of any these cemeteries ...
- is it the responsibility of descendants and if so - for how many generations, how much $$, paid annually, or $$$$$$ paid as part of the funeral costs, and what should it cover ... headstones, repairing headstones, access, weeding, record keeping, religious customs, and etc...
 
- is it the responsibility of the Cemetery Trust or similar organisation - how are they to raise the funds ... and who regulates their activities...

- should it be  the responsibility of 'the government' ... as in should it be the same set of laws across the entire nation of Australia ... or perhaps each state can make its own set of laws, effective across that particular state ... or perhaps each local government authority make their own local by-laws.

JM
   
  

Headstones from the first fifty years of local settlement are historic monuments and should ideally be preserved, or at the very least not vandalized by the management of the cemetery where they are located. Typically they have committees who evaluate the worthiness of the person interred or of the headstone itself to decide whether or not it should survive. One reason for not destroying the headstones now is that ideas about people's "worthiness" tend to vary over time (including who should be on the committee).
The older graves are the ones least likely to have family protection because that would require awareness of interment rights or even burial location to survive across several generations. Even my grandmother's headstone was destroyed because my aunt who died young had the interment rights, and that's just across two generations.

[seeking0]

Balmain Cemetery was destroyed also.
In the 1970s Premier Don Dunstan initiated a chain of events whereby (the now State Heritage listed) West Terrace Cemetery was slated for destruction. That would have been a terrible loss. It is a historic document written in iron and stone. Also a wonderful amenity for pedestrians, cyclists, wild quandong trees, brown snakes (oh well).

[lynnieconn]

As I said before I have family buried in Karrakatta Cemetery.   I visit regularly and the Renewal is not being rushed nor the whole cemetery destroyed.  Small sections are being renewed at a time over many years.  Headstones that have been disposed of are illegible and broken.  The remainder are being placed tastefully throughout the Cemetery.  My husband passed away two years ago and his ashes have been placed in a garden in the renewal area.  There are headstones scattered throughout gardens, a number of very old graves remain some with the original headstone and some families have replaced the headstone with a plaque. So many people panicked when they first heard about Renewal at Karrakatta myself included but after contacting the cemetery and looking at the plans which are available for everyone to look at I realised nothing will be done without permission if current  contacts for graves are given to the cemetery administration. The maintenance of Headstones and grave surrounds is the responsibility of the interred’s family not the cemetery each burial plot has a 25 year lease from the first burial that takes place of the three deceased allowed.  When the lease expires a fee is payable to lease the plot for a further twenty five years but this is very seldom invoked.
My husband has family buried in Karrakatta over many years that have never had headstones placed on their graves. 
For those interested in records only Karrakatta Cemetery has an excellent online search for records.