Recently, in this newspaper [The Maryborough District Advertiser] there was correspondence regarding the condition of some cemeteries in the Shire. I reflected on the Maryborough Cemetery, of which I am proud to be a Trustee. Years ago, like many cemeteries, this was not a pleasant place to visit, overgrown and snakes in summer, a quagmire in winter. Today, it is very different. Manicured lawns, well cared for graves, well tended roses. After 160 years the Trust have had electricity connected to the site, and the entire perimeter has been fenced. Water retention dams have been dug to capture rainwater.
I have spent hours walking the ‘old sections’ of the cemetery that date back to 1858. These are broken up into Christian sections, along with Jewish, Chinese, and Independent. Looking at these graves, reading the headstones is to travel through Maryborough’s history. Baroness Maria Simson Alfred Joyce, Isabella Warton, Outtrims, Lowenstein, H.N.Phillips, Sir Edmund Herring, Les Kuffer, Wal Richards, Romulus Gaita.
Whilst at the cemetery I am often asked why the Trust don’t fix the graves that have fallen into disrepair? Toppled headstones, cracked tombstones, broken fences. The answer is very simple, the laws in Victoria differ to every other state regarding cemeteries. Although a cemetery is crown land, when a grave is purchased, it is done so in perpetuity-forever! The Cemetery Trust grants the purchaser the ‘Holder of the Right of Internment’.
This right can be transferred, however, graves cannot be altered in any way, by anyone, without the express permission of the Rights Holder. For very old graves the holder of the right may be long gone, or even unknown. Therefore, without their permission nothing can be done. I personally subscribe to the English view of preservation of history, that is to let nature take its course. The only was a trust can intervene is if the Government changes the law as it stands. What I can assure our residents is that your Trust take their responsibilities very seriously, and that the cemetery is in capable hands.
