9000 bodies in way of underground carpark bid on Queen Victoria Market cemetery site

SOME 9000 bodies buried under Queen Victoria Market would be exhumed and “relatives can decide what they want to do with them” under a plan to build an underground carpark on the cemetery site.

Melburnians flock to Queen Victoria Market on a Saturday morning. Picture: Tony Gough

MORE than 9000 bodies buried under Queen Victoria Market would be exhumed under a plan by a lord mayoral candidate.

Pollster Gary Morgan said the bodies would need to be removed to make way for an underground carpark on the site of Melbourne’s first cemetery.

“We would get them identified by DNA and the relatives can decide what they want to do with them,” he told the Herald Sun.

Old Melbourne Cemetery started in 1837 and the last burial was in 1917.

Exhumation of bodies began in 1920 — with only marked graves affected.

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Pollster Gary Morgan wants to build a car park on the cemetery site. Picture: Nicole Garmston

A total of 914 bodies were exhumed and reinterred at other cemeteries across Melbourne, including Melbourne General Cemetery in Carlton and Fawkner cemetery.

Melbourne pioneer John Batman was among those whose body was exhumed and re-interred at Fawkner.

Mr Morgan said it was stupid to have bodies buried under what is now the main carpark.

He said it would be cheaper to exhume the bodies than to try to build infrastructure around the bodies.

“We’ll have people writing in and people interested in their history,” Mr Morgan said.

Old Melbourne Cemetery lays under the main carpark at Queen Victoria Market.

Mr Morgan, who ran for lord mayor three times against former mayor Robert Doyle, said the by-election was a referendum on the future of the market.

The pollster opposes the $250 million City of Melbourne plan to refurbish the market, including creating a green plaza on the current carpark site.

Mr Morgan said the market needed more parking and an underground carpark with a recreational space above the cemetery site was the best option.

He was due to announce his policy on the carpark at a forum for candidates held by the Melbourne Press Club.