Cemetery role can be a hole lotta fun
IF you feel buried with work and in a dead end job, a rare opening at Rookwood cemetery might just be your saving grace.
NSW
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IF you feel buried by your workload and in a dead-end job, a rare opening at Rookwood cemetery — not just the coffin-shaped kind — might just be your saving grace.
The 150-year-old cemetery is currently looking for an apprentice gravedigger to join its surprisingly young and vibrant team.
Applicants will start out on general landscaping duties — such as lawn mowing — before graduating to gravedigging skills and techniques in their third year.
Rookwood general manager of operations Mark Bundy said the opening was a great opportunity for a rich and fulfilling career.
He said the new recruit will fill a hole (literally) in a fun young team, who are definitely not a bunch of stiffs. The hours are great and contrary to popular belief, there is no graveyard shift.
Mr Bundy said there was also scope for career progression. He started as a general grounds worker at the age of 30 after being laid off from his job at a government department and rose to the position of general manager.
He said working outside and making a difference to people in times of grief in the Lidcombe cemetery’s beautiful grounds made it a great job.
“We never throw them straight into the grave digging role, we try to see how they go in the grounds maintenance area, then if they feel comfortable we’ll bring them into the burial role,” he said.
“They would work them for the first couple of months, mainly they just observe at first.”
Successful applicants will obtain relevant tickets to use earthmoving equipment and use a backhoe, skid steer and mini excavators.
“Gravediggers don’t do one funeral, they might be doing 19 funerals a day, so they’re going from job to job. We are doing 1900 internments a year.”
“They have to have their own personality, a feeling of care, be prepared to be taught, we can work with them.”
There are currently 16 people on the burial team.
“You are working outdoors, you are working with a business that is in demand, it is not going to collapse.”
TAFE NSW has experienced steady demand for spots in grave digging courses it offers at Ryde TAFE — a short course and a more involved Certificate III.
Students learn about excavation, placement of the casket, backfilling a grave and the risk associated with the digging process.
They are also taught how to deal with soil conditions as well as cultural differences regarding burials.
They also learn how to dispose of bodies in compliance with the NSW Health Department.
However last year 74 per cent of funerals used a crematorium rather than a gravedigger, according to data from Invocare, which owns funeral brands across Australia.