Fawkner Crematorium and Memorial Park

Fawkner Memorial Park is located in the north-western Melbourne suburb of Hadfield, Victoria close to Fawkner, Victoria, Australia. It is the largest cemetery by land size in the state.

Merlynston Creek, a tributary of Merri Creek, is a major geographical feature running through both Fawkner Cemetery and the Northern Memorial Park.

History

In 1906, the Municipal Cemetery, Fawkner (as it was then called) opened to meet the needs of the north west. The cemetery was designed and run by Charles Heath, a surveyor and architect. The first burial took place on 10 December 1906. This was considered to be the unofficial opening of the cemetery. The funeral was conducted by John Allison from Sydney Road. The cemetery was adjacent to Fawkner railway station on the Upfield line, with special trains carrying the deceased to the cemetery from 1906 to 1939.^[1]

Management

They operate over multiple cemetery sites. The fourth site, Plenty Valley Memorial Park is yet to be established:

• Coburg Pine Ridge - Est 1856 - 10 hectares (25 acres)

• Fawkner Crematorium & Memorial Park - Est 1906 - 113 hectares (282 acres)

• Northern Memorial Park - Est 1986 - 94 hectares (235 acres)

• Plenty Valley Memorial Park - Yet to be established - 83 hectares (208 acres)

Together, the four memorial parks total an area of 300 hectares or 750 acres (3.0 km²) of land.

Management has since been reorganised as the Greater Metropolitan Cemeteries Trust.^[2]

Notable Interments

• Lilian Alexander (1861-1934), pioneering surgeon
• John Barrett (1858-1928), Senator
• John Batman (1801-1839), pioneer, one of the founders of Melbourne
• Kathleen Best (1910-1957), founder of the Women's Royal Australian Army Corps
• Thomas Blamey (1884-1951), Field Marshal (cremated)
• Deirdre Cash (1924-1963), novelist, wrote under the nom-de-plume "Criena Rohan"
• George Ward Cole (1793-1879), pioneer
• Revel Cooper (c.1934-1983), Nyoongar artist
• Charles Dight (1813-1852), pioneer
• Alphonse Gangitano (1957-1998), underworld identity
• James Henry Gardiner (1848-1921), North Melbourne Football Club founder and administrator
• Pinchas Goldhar (1901-1947), writer
• Henry Gregory (1860-1940), WA politician
• Edward Harrington (1895-1966), writer
• Sybil Irving (1897-1973), army officer, founder of the Australian Women's Army Service
• Donald Alaster Macdonald (1859-1932), nature writer, conservationist
• Kylie Maybury (1978-1984), murder victim
• Charlie Mutton (1890-1989), Labor politician
• Laurie Nash (1910-1986), footballer and Test cricketer
• Jack Patten (1905-1957), Koori activist, leader, writer
• Marie Pitt (1869-1948), journalist
• James Quinn (1853-1934), finder of Ireland's famous Ardagh Chalice also known as the Ardagh Hoard
• Mark "Chopper" Read (1954-2013), underworld identity and writer
• Alice Ross-King (1891-1968), nurse in both world wars, "Australia's most decorated female"^[3]
• Bernard Rubin (1896-1936), first Australian winner of 24 Hours of Le Mans and member of the Bentley Boys
• William Ruthven VC (1893-1970), soldier, politician
• Isaac Selby (1859-1956), historian
• Ernie Shepherd (1901-1958), Labor politician
• Issy Smith VC (1890-1940), soldier, born Ishroulch Shmeilowitz
• Ethel Spowers (1890-1947), artist
• Lyra Taylor (1894-1979), pioneering social worker
• Alfred Tipper (1867-1944), outsider artist, showman, cyclist
• Frank Traynor (1927-1985), jazz musician

War Graves

Fawkner Memorial Park contains the war graves of 173 Commonwealth service personnel from World War I and World War II.^[4]

In addition Fawkner Crematorium has a Commonwealth War Graves Commission memorial to 28 Australian service personnel of World War II - 23 soldiers, 4 airmen and one naval officer - who were cremated there.^[5] They included Elwyn Roy King (1894-1941) who had been a fighter ace in World War I.^[6]

References

External links

• Fawkner Memorial Park - Billion Graves
• Works by or about Fawkner Crematorium and Memorial Park in libraries (WorldCat catalog)