Rookwood Cemetery lobbies to have nine people buried in plot
Some people spend their whole lives avoiding annoying relatives. But there may soon be no escape even in death with one of the state’s biggest cemeteries lobbying for a controversial change to burial practices. WHAT THEY WANT
NSW
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Families would be able to bury as many as nine relatives in the one grave – and just 40cm deep – in a radical plan to ease Sydney’s land squeeze.
Rookwood Cemetery is lobbying the state government to dramatically increase the number of dead people in a grave from two to nine, to cope with Sydney’s booming population and its land shortage.
Meanwhile several NSW councils want to go to “natural burials” — effectively mass graves with no headstones — and the Planning Department has quietly begun a massive review of the whole sector.
But religious groups are drawing a line in the dirt and declaring these extreme changes will only happen over their dead bodies — metaphorically speaking.
Rookwood claims families could save as much as $40,000 under its plan.
The Western Sydney cemetery is pushing for changes to the decade-old NSW Public Health Regulation. The regulation expires in September 2020 and governs rules around handling dead bodies, exhumations and cremations.
The Department of Planning also quietly approached stakeholders on Wednesday signalling a separate review of the Cemeteries and Crematoria Act 2013 — laws that govern land use, internment and accountability within the sector.
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“Burial land in metropolitan Sydney is expected to reach capacity by 2051, with land available for new burials at Rookwood to be exhausted within the next 15 years,” Rookwood General Cemetery CEO George Simpson said.
“The opportunity to inter additional family members in the same grave will negate the need for families to buy multiple graves for their families.
“Under our plan, families will only need to cover the cost of each individual interment over the years.”
Rookwood burials cost about $10,000 with two corpses to a grave. If, for example, a family buried eight people in each grave instead of two, only one burial license will need to be purchased instead of four, saving families between $20,000 and $40,000.
To make all these bodies fit Rookwood also wants to bury coffins a mere 40cm from the surface, up from the current 90cm.
Another big change the cemetery is calling for is to remove plastic coffin liners, which it says slows down decomposition.
“Our research has confirmed that speeding up the decomposition process, by utilising shrouds and/or biodegradable coffins could enable us to carry out additional interments in the same grave for generations,” Mr Simpson said.
“The changes that we would propose to these regulations include promoting the use of alternative materials for the manufacturing of coffins and coffin liners.”
If passed, these reforms could potentially double the one million already buried at the 314ha site, which is 24ha bigger than the Sydney CBD.
Water, Property and Housing Minister Melinda Pavey said Rookwood “have not presented these proposals to government” and they are “not a policy of the NSW Government”.
NSW Health appeared to be at least open to the plan, saying: “There is negligible risk to public health from burials”.
NSW Jewish Board of Deputies CEO Vic Alhadeff said the Jewish community has been allowing two bodies to a grave since 2014.
Asked about nine Rookwood’s nine-to-a-grave plan, he said: “That is not under active consideration”.
When it comes to shallower graves, Mr Alhadeff said: “Rookwood General Cemetery Trust has always co-operated with faith communities to meet specific requirements, and we would expect that to continue”.
“We do not expect any issues around soil usage.”
Catholic Cemeteries and Crematoria CEO Peter O’Meara poured cold water on the plan.
“The concept would face resistance from certain religious groups who prefer single or double depth interments,” Mr O’Meara said.
“Despite Mr Simpson’s statement, we are unaware of any scientific research that would permit up to nine interments in a single grave over a reasonable period that would improve the sustainability of existing cemeteries such as Rookwood.”
Mr O’Meara, whose organisation secured approval for a 136,000-plot cemetery near Campbelltown in July, said his organisation remains “unconvinced” about shallower graves.
Sydney’s subterranean squeeze is even tighter at Woronora Memorial Park in Sutherland and Eastern Suburbs Memorial Park at Matraville.
The Southern Metropolitan Cemeteries Land Manager is asking the government to allow them to use mass unmarked graves, known as “natural burials”.
“Innovative solutions such as vertical cemeteries and natural burials will require consultation with a number of regulatory agencies such as CCNSW, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Planning as well as our communities as to the acceptability and viability of these options,” capital works manager Eddie Swat said in the 2019 annual report.
On Thursday, Byron Bay Council resolved to search for a natural burial site.
Natural burial sites already exist in Kemps Creek, Orange and Lismore.
Cemeteries and Crematoria Association of NSW president Pamela Green said renewing graves is common in Europe and South Australia.
She said nine-to-a-grave would be a good idea “if people are comfortable with it”.
“People should not be forced to do something that they are uncomfortable with or that disturbs their faith,” she said.
In relation to shallow graves she said: “Provided there were the necessary controls in place there is no reason why you couldn’t do that”.
She said making coffins more biodegradable is a positive step and would also help cremators “control a really clean burn”.
Between 2014 and 2018 the proportion of dead people in NSW being cremated increased 1 per cent to 67.9 per cent.
The proportion who are buried decreased 1 per cent in the same period to be at 32.1 per cent, according to the regulator Cemeteries and Crematoria NSW.
There were 57,103 services conducted in NSW in 2017-18.