Councillor Mark Dal Bon (inset) is worried the cemetery will become full. Photo: Griffith City Council.
A move to temporarily stop people from reserving plots at Griffith Cemetery was voted down at a recent council meeting, but concerns remain over whether the burial site will run out of space before a new cemetery is built in Lake Wyangan (currently planned for 2029/30).
Councillor Mark Dal Bon put forward a motion that council stop any further reservations of cemetery plots except mausoleums in the Griffith City Cemetery until it has a better understanding of the remaining capacity.
He said his motion wouldn’t impact those who had already reserved a plot, but he was worried that if people were allowed to keep doing it, the cemetery might run out of space for those who died without a reserved plot.
“We might end up with a full cemetery of empty lawn plots in the future,” he said.
Mayor Doug Curran opposed the motion.
“When we put that stop on, it will potentially have the opposite effect of what you want to do,” he said.
“When we release them, people will come in and want to make a reservation.”
The mayor said there were still 800 plots available, and given about 75 people were buried each year, the cemetery was unlikely to run out of space for 10 years.
“We have existing carparks that we can turn into lawn sections [if needed],” he said.
Cr Anne Napoli also opposed Cr Dal Bon’s motion.
“We choose where we live, where we farm; most people would like to know where their resting place will be,” she said.
Cr Dal Bon’s motion was defeated seven votes to two, with only Cr Scott Groat supporting it. This means that residents will still be able to reserve plots by making an application for reservation with council.
At a meeting of a council-run committee on cemetery issues in July, Cr Dal Bon and community member Bruno Guidolin moved that council staff prepared a report on the estimated remaining lifespan of the Griffith Cemetery, along with any feasible options for extending its operational capacity.
Cr Dal Bon says he remains concerned about the cemetery’s capacity but will wait for the report (due in October) before taking further action.
Over the past 20 years, Griffith Council has commissioned and produced various reports on constructing a new cemetery in town. This included a scoping level flora and fauna assessment (2005), a geotechnical assessment report (2005), a hydrogeological assessment report (2006) and a cemetery management plan (2009), which suggested the existing cemetery could reach capacity by 2015.
In 2019, the council engaged a consultant to do another cemetery master plan on a new burial ground on Rifle Range Road in Lake Wyangan. Region asked council when this new cemetery would be built.
“Works will commence on the new cemetery in accordance with council’s long-term financial plan. Currently this would be in the 2029/30 financial year, although this could be adjusted depending on a number of factors,” a council spokesperson said.
Council confirmed it owns the land on which the new cemetery will be built.
Griffith residents will have an alternative to burials for the first time ever when Trenerry Funerals launches the town’s inaugural cremation services before the end of the year. The business has purchased a 14-tonne cremator from the United States, which was delivered to town in May. Griffith Council also has plans to buy a cremator and lease it to another business, Griffith Regional Funeral Services.
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