Construction has begun on the Macarthur Memorial Park cemetery

The Macarthur Memorial Park will provide crucially needed burial space for Sydney’s Muslim population, as well as Jewish and Christian Aussies whose faith prohibits cremation.

Construction on a memorial park with 136,000 plots is finally under way, marking Sydney’s first new cemetery in 50 years.

The Macarthur Memorial Park will provide crucially needed burial space for Sydney’s booming Muslim population, as well as Jewish and Christian Aussies whose faith prohibits cremation.

“Thirty per cent of people will continue to be buried in Australia, so you will always have increasing demand in space,” Catholic Cemeteries and Crematoria chief operating officer Lauren Hargrove said.

An artist’s impression of the Macarthur Memorial Park at Varroville.

Construction on the much-needed memorial park was slated to begin in 2020, but was put on hold by the government after the 11th Hour report.

The ominously titled review of Crown cemeteries found existing sites would close to new internments within 10 to 12 years.

While the new Macarthur Memorial Park will extend the lifeline of Crown burial plots, many in the sector see it as a bandaid rather than a cure.

Construction on the Varroville site started this week, with 113 hectares of graves and open recreation space for the Western Sydney community.

The site will move away from traditional cemetery designs, aiming to reduce the appearance of gravestones and focus on the parklands.

“We will be adopting a successful overseas model where memorial parklands are now quiet and beautiful places of recreation for all the family, with groves of trees, lakes and open space. For all intents and purposes, they are not cemeteries but beautiful open spaces,” CEO Peter O’Meara said.

Construction has started on the Macarthur Memorial Park.

“We will ensure that the burial plots are discreetly positioned inside bush-lined enclosures and the interment practices and beliefs of all religious and cultural groups are respected, with a state of the art chapel and function centre.”

While the memorial park is on Crown land, it is Catholic operated and separated from the recently merged One Crown.

An ugly battle was waged between the Catholic Church and the NSW Government, who hoped to merge all five previously independent operators into the One Crown model.

The Catholic Cemeteries and Crematoria trust ultimately won out, remaining independent.