Graves would be shallower to accommodate more bodies, and cemetery trusts would have powers to remove excessive or dangerous decorations, under mooted changes to state rules for cemeteries.
The Victorian Department of Health is currently reviewing feedback on suggested tweaks to the Cemeteries and Crematoria Regulations 2015, which includes calls for more powers for cemetery management to be able to remove items from graves.
Rob Luscombe, president of peak body the Cemeteries and Crematoria Association of Victoria.Credit: Jason South
The department said it had received feedback from cemeteries that “substantive health and safety issues have been identified, compounded by the difficulty in overseeing situations across the many lands that cemetery trusts manage, where families leave decorations that may pose issues on adjacent plots or within communal spaces”.
“To effectively address community expectations and mitigate potential risks, it has been suggested that the Regulations should explicitly specify the power of cemetery trusts to remove objects for health and safety reasons,” the review states.
Rob Luscombe, president of peak body the Cemeteries and Crematoria Association of Victoria, said mementos placed on graves like glass and ceramic vases posed a safety hazard to groundskeepers who need to mow grass and open flames from candles were a fire hazard.
He said cemetery trusts also had to deal with complaints from other grieving families about “untidy” graves.
“Sometimes when a lot of ornamentation gets on a grave or a lot of things get on a burial position it becomes a little bit untidy and some people are not comfortable with that,” he said.
Luscombe is also the general manager at Greater Metropolitan Cemeteries Trust (GMCT) in the city’s north and is responsible for Coburg Pine Ridge Cemetery, Fawkner Memorial Park, Northcote Cemetery, Northern Memorial Park and Preston Cemetery.
Florist Steve Rontos, who runs Box Forest Flowers just near Fawkner cemetery, said previous attempts to scale back ornaments on graves had upset mourners.
“I’m getting feedback from customers saying, ‘[the cemetery] don’t want this, they don’t want that’,” he said.
Along with flowers and balloons, Rontos sells items that could be considered dangerous, such as oil burners, candles, charcoals, incense and some ceramic vases.
“All the different cultures want different things. Greeks and Italians like to light candles,” he said. “People aren’t going to change their minds.”
But Luscombe said staff were aware of the sensitivities and only removed items after consulting with families.
“If it’s a situation where we need to reach a compromise with them then we will because we don’t want to take ornamentation off the grave … they want to honour their loved one that’s there in the best way they can and a lot of those ornaments and artefacts that are there reflect that person,” he said. “But yes, those conversations aren’t great to have.”
A Health Department spokesperson said any changes to the current regulations would “ensure that cultural and religious practices can be observed”.
The review canvasses dozens of other topics, including a suggested reduction in the depths of graves to allow for more family members to be buried in the same plot.
Burwood cemetery dates back to 1858 and reached capacity in the 1980s.Credit: Joe Armao
Luscombe said that traditionally three bodies could be interred in the same grave one at nine feet deep, one at seven feet deep and one at five feet deep to allow for enough soil between the third interment and the surface.
But he said some families were now realising that existing graves hadn’t been dug to the full nine feet, which meant second or third family members were not able to fit in the grave leaving enough depth below the surface.
“If you go back a little while some of the [digging] technology wasn’t able to break through rock, or the ground was really hard,” he said.
Under the changes, the top body would be permitted to be 50 centimetres or 60cm beneath the surface, rather than 75cm, for unsealed sites. For sealed sites, with a concrete slab at the surface, the top body could interred 30cm below the slab, rather than the current requirement of 50cm.
Other suggested changes were clarifying the current ban on sports in cemeteries to ensure it doesn’t capture walking groups, bike riding or children playing, as some cemeteries have grassed areas and support their use for picnics as a way for visitors to feel close to their loved ones.
The review has asked whether guided tours should continue as operators noted they can “impede operations within the cemetery”.
Hunting and fishing are banned in cemeteries that have bushland or waterways in them, but the review flags there are mixed views in the industry on this. Some operators want other water activities like yabbying also banned, while others said fishing was peaceful and shouldn’t be banned.
The Health Department said it had received feedback from members of the public as well as cemetery trusts and funeral directors, which was being considered before the new regulations come into effect in June.
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