The earth just east of the Maribyrnong River in the Keilor Plains was first shovelled for the purpose of burying a body 160 years ago.
It was nine-year-old Ellen Bonfield’s grave that was dug that autumn, after the child succumbed to a fever. The year was 1856 and Keilor was alive and prospering as a popular pit stop on the way to the goldfields.
Miss Bonfield’s grave now rests alongside the tombs of thousands of people who have been laid to rest at the cemetery, which was officially declared full in December.
But The Greater Metropolitan Cemeteries Trust (GMCT), which operates 18 cemeteries including Keilor across Melbourne’s north, east and west, began planning to expand well before the last gravesite was purchased.
Pelagia Markogiannakis, the trust’s director of strategic planning and infrastructure, said it was about two years ago when preparations began to build another 5000 new graves on land north of Ely Court.
Star Weekly was taken on a tour of the site last week to find out how construction was progressing, what the $17.4 million Keilor Cemetery expansion would mean for the community, and when the new wing would be operational.
Ms Markogiannakis said landscaping began in May, which involved clearing the 3.7 hectare site of rock and vegetation, not to mention rubbish illegally dumped over the years.
Lambert and Rehbein senior consultant Matt Sanderson said GMCT was slugged with hefty additional costs to get rid of the mess.
“There was old furniture, a burnt out car, asbestos,” he said, pointing to a pile of carpet recently discarded on site.
On the western section of the site, rows of concrete lined graves have been built. They’ll eventually be topped with clean fill and covered until they’re needed. Elsewhere on site, excavators busily dig up the ground.
“We’ve had more than 150 trailer loads of rock dug up,” Ms Markogiannakis said.
She said once complete, the new wing would extend the life of the cemetery by about 10 years. In Victoria, legislation allows for three bodies to a grave, so that’s about 15,000 burials.
GMCT has already begun accepting expressions of interest for grave sites.
The first stage of the cemetery will be opened mid next year. You can lodge an expression of interest for future purchases in person with GMCT staff at Keilor cemetery or by email to the GMCT western regional office Altona@gmct.com.au.
