When I first saw Fawkner Memorial Park, I had just moved to Melbourne, and was exploring. I was not expecting to see a cemetery when I alighted at Fawkner station. But, as anyone who has left the train on the Upfield-bound side of the station knows, the huge cemetery fills your vision, with headstones and trees stretching out into the distance.
This vastness is one of the main reasons why it’s hard to imagine that land being anything other than the Memorial Park. The cemetery was opened over a century ago, so you’d be hard pressed to find any living person who remembers the land before the first burial. This is true of most cemeteries – ours are fairly young by cemetery standards, but still, almost nobody can remember the opening of a new site.
Near the end of the 19th century, it became clear that more burial space was necessary for Melbourne. In 1878, land was purchased in Springvale, which went on to become Springvale Botanical Cemetery. Before it had even opened, however, the councils of many northern suburbs and the City of Melbourne started working to secure a cemetery site that would cater to the burial needs of the North. A conference was held in 1902, and the site at Fawkner was selected from several options.
The Northern Suburbs Cemetery Act of 1904 allowed the purchase of private land for burial. This was necessary because, unlike other cemeteries, Fawkner was funded and managed by its member municipalities, which have today condensed into the Cities of Coburg, Brunswick, Essendon, Broadmeadows and Melbourne.
Aside from being generally suitable land in a good location, it the Fawkner site was also convenient in that it made use of the neglected branch of railway that went on to become the Upfield line. Newspaper coverage leading up to the opening praised the efficiency of funeral trains, which carried mourners and funeral parties in the passenger cars and specialized mortuary cars bringing up the rear. One of these mortuary cars is on display near the station entrance, outside the tea rooms.
https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/16048513?q&versionId=18831588
People were enthusiastic about the landscaping taking place. Charles Heath’s design of seven radial roads in a fan-like shape was praised by many, and a writer for the Age at the time described the botanical aspects:
“…when the trees and shrubs which have been planted grow into maturity, the scene will possess a considerable degree of beauty… There has been a liberal planting of maple, oak, poplar, plane, elm, eucalyptus and walnut trees, and lawns and shrubberies will add a finished appearance to an adequate scheme of floral beautification.” – ‘Fawkner Cemetery: A New Municipal Venture’ 18 Oct 1906, The Age, Page 8.
It’s hard to deny the truth of this 113 years later – Fawkner Memorial Park is spectacularly verdant, containing many charmingly gnarled trees with lush foliage, and a scheme of floral beautification that most would characterise as far more than adequate.
The opening of the cemetery for burials was repeatedly delayed, for largely bureaucratic reasons. Bodies were embalmed and waiting, including the body of five-year-old Doris Gladys Knapp, who would be the first interred in Fawkner.
On the 5th of December 1906, a special train ran from Flinders Street Station, carrying municipal
councillors, clergymen and undertakers to officially inspect the site. Refreshments were enjoyed, speeches given, and adequacy of floral beautification commented upon. Five days later, the tragically young Doris was interred in the Roman Catholic area. The service shown in the photograph below was conducted by Father Hayes of Coburg. Doris was survived by her father, A.C. Knapp, the assistant stationmaster of Brunswick railway station. Her death took place on August 19th; almost four months before the burial service. It is hard to imagine the tension felt by the grieving families who waited months for their already deceased loved ones to be buried in the new cemetery.
https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/16048264?q&versionId=18831314 Copyright 2004 Moreland
Only two days later, an article appeared in The Herald, decrying the continued tradition of earth burials when there was a far more sanitary and space-efficient method available:
“It is not a lively subject, In fact, It might be said, with perfect truth, that it is a deadly subject; but in this age of quickened mentality, when the thoughts of men are being widened with the processes of the sun, it is remarkable that so little advancement is made towards cremation as a more scientific and sanitary system for the disposal of the dead. In Victoria, for instance, why have we not a more active agency helping to create or at least modify public opinion in this regard?” – ‘Why Not Cremation?’ 12th December 1906, The Herald, Page 2.
Over the next 20 years or so, as overcrowding and health issues related to human remains continued, public sentiment about cremation grew more positive, with the Melbourne Cremation Society advocating for a state-of-the-art crematorium to be built at Fawkner, with an elegant and spacious columbarium to store ashes. It was argued that cremation had the potential to be very cost effective, as maintenance after the fact was unnecessary compared to earth burial. People would not catch disease from bodies who died of conditions that remain infectious post-mortem. Indeed, cremation was seemingly advertised as the Way Of The Future: why subject your loved ones to the indignity of a long and gruesome decomposition when they could be almost instantly transformed into a portable, sterile box of ash? It is as though people expected that skipping to the end of decomposition would somehow speed up the grieving process or enhance closure, while also making the funeral process more dignified.
In 1927 the new crematorium was opened. The out-of-date, unpopular crematorium at Springvale was closed and Fawkner’s facility operated as Melbourne’s only crematorium for the following decade. The official name became “The New Melbourne General Cemetery Including The Melbourne Crematorium,” but many simply referred to it as Fawkner Crematorium, Fawkner Cemetery, or, eventually, Fawkner Memorial Park. It remains the largest cemetery in Victoria by land size, and the crematorium still serves the needs of the Northern suburbs of Melbourne.
Resources
The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 – 1954) Mon 17 Sep 1906, Page 5, ‘Fawkner Cemetery: Bodies Awaiting Burial.’ https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/201682643?searchTerm=%22Fawkner%20cemetery%22&searchLimits=l-decade=190|||sortby=dateAsc
The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 – 1954) Thu 18 Oct 1906, Page 8, ‘Fawkner Cemetery: A New Municipal Venture’
The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 – 1957) Thu 6 Dec 1906, Page 9, ‘Fawkner Cemetery: Official Inspection’ https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/9658483?searchTerm=%22Fawkner%20cemetery%22&searchLimits=l-decade=190|||sortby=dateAsc
The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 – 1957) Wed 12 Dec 1906, Page 8, ‘Fawkner Cemetery: First Interment’
The Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 – 1954) Wed 12 Dec 1906, Page 2, ‘Why Not Cremation?’ https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/242550063?searchTerm=%22Fawkner%20cemetery%22&searchLimits=l-decade=190|||sortby=dateAsc
The Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 – 1954) Thu 7 Feb 1924, Page 7 ‘Bound To Come’ https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/243753622?searchTerm=Fawkner%20crematorium&searchLimits=sortby=dateAsc|||l-decade=192
The Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 – 1954) Sat 31 Jan 1925, Page 13, ‘Cremation Society’ https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/243862283?searchTerm=Fawkner%20crematorium&searchLimits=sortby=dateAsc|||l-decade=192
Weekly Times (Melbourne, Vic. : 1869 – 1954) Sat 6 Mar 1926, Page 9, ‘Cremation: Advantages Over Burial’ https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/223313428?searchTerm=Fawkner%20crematorium&searchLimits=sortby=dateAsc|||l-decade=192
Fawkner Memorial Park Cemetery Fact Sheet, 2015/2016, The Greater Metropolitan Cemeteries Trust http://www.gmct.com.au/media/720791/gmct-fawkner-memorial-park-cemetery-fact-sheet.pdf