The clifftop memorial plan to dig Waverley Cemetery out of a financial hole

Waverley’s clifftop cemetery would soon have more than 720 memorial lots for people to store the ashes of their loved ones under a council plan to address a shortage of burial space and help pay for soaring maintenance costs.

A $2.3 million proposal has been lodged by Waverley Council to build new “memorial walls” containing small compartments where remains can be given a permanent resting place as a means of generating at least $6 million in revenue from the site in coming years.

A concept images of the new memorial walls at the Waverley Cemetery.

The heritage-listed cemetery, owned and managed by the council, is known for its prominent Victorian and Edwardian monuments, some dating back more than 100 years.

But council documents reveal the upkeep of the cemetery is becoming an increasing burden as maintenance costs have reached $1.5 million a year.

Since 2022, the council has also paid at least $450,000 for repairs to historical structures, including fixing two vaults that recently “collapsed” and leaving the council with a $300,000 repair bill.

The 20 proposed memorial walls would have 720 compartments where family members could place ashes. Each interment, measuring 19cm wide and 17cm high, would cost $8540 to reserve.

A photo showing the ageing state of structures at the cemetery.

As well as netting extra income, the council hopes the interments will also address a shortage of burial space at the cemetery which contains more than 50,000 graves across 17 hectares.

“At present operational costs are largely recouped through sales, though the capacity to maintain this position in the face of declining burial site availability is becoming increasingly difficult,” council documents state.

“It is vital to the long-term financial sustainability of the cemetery that council introduces additional revenue streams.”

The memorial walls would be built along Quinn Road, an interior road that runs through the western side of the cemetery.

Concept photos of the walls have sparked mixed reactions on local social media groups, with some residents likening them to “letter boxes outside unit blocks”.

“There are heaps of unused post office boxes at Bondi Road Post Office that could be used for ashes,” another local wrote on social media. “And cheaper too,” noted another.

Friends of Waverley Cemetery president Tony Billingsley has supported the new memorial walls, saying it would help cover the burgeoning costs of maintaining the cemetery.

“The general upkeep of the cemetery is a very expensive operation because there are many old graves and mausoleums and some of them are more than 100 years old,” he said.

The proposed memorial walls would be installed along Quinn Road within the cemetery.

“There’s a system called ‘right of burial’ which means if there’s a grave with a family member still living then nobody else can touch it and where the records aren’t clear, it means a lot of older graves aren’t able to be maintained.

“It’s sad to see because some are of great historic significance but are falling into disrepair due to erosion or have lettering falling off.

“The broader problem is that councils have to pay for a lot of other community infrastructure such as swimming pools, footpaths and roads, and cemeteries may not be seen as having the same priority.”

A report by Waverley Council has flagged that the ageing state of the Waverley Cemetery is expected to accelerate due to coastal weather conditions and the large number of “significant and historic monuments and vaults that continue to fall into disrepair”.

The state heritage listed cemetery contains more than 50,000 gravesCredit: James Brickwood

The council has supported more funding from the NSW government to help councils pay for preservation costs involved in maintaining public cemeteries.

A council spokesman said in a statement: “It is proposed to slowly release the niche sales to provide recurrent revenue over the next 20 years to ensure the financial sustainability of council’s cemeteries”.

The plans come amid warnings Sydney is facing a shortage of burial spaces with many publicly owned cemeteries fast running out of room.

In April, Sydney’s first new Crown cemetery in more than 80 years opened at Varroville with 136,000 burial plots, while several cemeteries are also planned at sites including Lidcombe to help address the shortage.

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