Boroondara General Cemetery
Encyclopedia
Cemetery
A cemetery is a place in which dead bodies and cremated remains are buried. The term "cemetery" implies that the land is specifically designated as a burying ground. Cemeteries in the Western world are where the final ceremonies of death are observed...
in Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. The cemetery, located in Kew
Kew, Victoria
Kew is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 6 km east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Boroondara. At the 2006 Census, Kew had a population of 22,516....
, a suburb of Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, is listed as a heritage place on the Victorian Heritage Register
Victorian Heritage Register
The Victorian Heritage Register lists places of cultural heritage significance to the State of Victoria, Australia. It has statutory weight under the Heritage Act 1995 which establishes Heritage Victoria as the permit authority...
.
History
The 31 acres (12.5 ha) cemetery site was reserved in 1855 and trustees were first appointed in 1858. A site planSite plan
A site plan is an architectural plan, landscape architecture document, and a detailed engineering drawing of proposed improvements to a given lot...
was drawn up by Frederick Acheson, a civil engineer in the Public Lands Office, with the layout segregated by religious denomination
Religious denomination
A religious denomination is a subgroup within a religion that operates under a common name, tradition, and identity.The term describes various Christian denominations...
, a common occurrence at the time. The first burial took place in 1859.
In 1864 Albert Purchas, who was architect and surveyor for the Melbourne General Cemetery
Melbourne General Cemetery
The Melbourne General Cemetery is a large necropolis located north of the city of Melbourne in the suburb of Carlton North.-History:...
, joined the trust. Purchas is believed to be the designer of the landscape layout as well as many of the features of the cemetery including the cast iron entrance gates (1889), the rotunda (1890) and the surrounding ornamental brick wall (1895–6), as well as various additions to the original 1860 Cottage in the period 1866–1899 including the clock tower. The design of the cemetery was influenced by the Victorian garden cemetery movement. This influence was reflected in the curving path network following the contours of the site, the creation of defined views and a park like setting.
In the latter half of the twentieth century the cemetery was becoming full and many pathways and grassed verges were utilised to provide new burial sites. At the same time, many of the older Victorian monuments began to fall into disrepair due to their age and lack of funding to maintain them.
In 2001 the Peace Haven Mausoleum
Mausoleum
A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or persons. A monument without the interment is a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be considered a type of tomb or the tomb may be considered to be within the...
was built by the Cemetery Trust to cater for growing demand for above-ground burials.
Burials and memorials
David Syme
David Syme was a Scottish-Australian newspaper proprietor of The Age and regarded as "the father of protection in Australia" who had immense influence in the Government of Victoria.-Early life and family:...
, publisher of The Age
The Age
The Age is a daily broadsheet newspaper, which has been published in Melbourne, Australia since 1854. Owned and published by Fairfax Media, The Age primarily serves Victoria, but is also available for purchase in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and border regions of South Australia and...
newspaper. It has a temple-like appearance and Egyptian
Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...
motif
Motif (art)
In art, a motif is an element of a pattern, an image or part of one, or a theme. A motif may be repeated in a design or composition, often many times, or may just occur once in a work. A motif may be an element in the iconography of a particular subject or type of subject that is seen in other...
s. Between 1889 and 1907 the Springthorpe Memorial
Springthorpe Memorial
The Springthorpe Memorial is an elaborate Victorian era memorial located within Boroondara General Cemetery in Kew, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia.The memorial was built by Melbourne doctor John Springthorpe,...
was constructed on behalf of Dr John Springthorpe in memory of his wife, Annie and in 1912 the Cussen Memorial was commissioned by Sir Leo Cussen
Leo Cussen
Sir Leo Finn Bernard Cussen , Australian jurist, was a Judge of the Supreme Court of Victoria.Cussen was born in Portland on the western coast of Victoria in 1859. He was educated at Hamilton College in Hamilton. He studied civil engineering at the University of Melbourne, graduating with a...
, a judge of the Victorian Supreme Court as a memorial to his son, Hubert. The latter is a small chapel designed in the Gothic Revival style.
The Springthorpe and Cussen Memorials are listed separately on the Victorian Heritage Register.
Trees
The cemetery has a notable collection of mature trees including rows of Bhutan Cypress (Cupressus torulosa) and Italian cypress (Cupressus sempervirens 'Italica'), as well as specimens of Bunya Bunya (Araucaria bidwillii) , Canary Island PineCanary Island Pine
Pinus canariensis, the Canary Island Pine, is a species in the genus Pinus, family Pinaceae, native and endemic to the outer Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean. It is a subtropical pine and does not tolerate low temperatures or hard frost, surviving temperatures down to about −6 to...
(Pinus canariensis), Weeping Elms
Camperdown Elm
The Camperdown Elm Ulmus glabra Camperdownii is a cultivar which cannot reproduce from seed. Although still classed as a cultivar of U. glabra, the tree was considered a nothomorph of U. × hollandica var. vegeta by Green , not U...
(Ulmus glabra 'Camperdownii'), Queensland Kauri (Agathis robusta) and Weeping Cypress
Cupressus funebris
Cupressus funebris is a species of cypress native to southwestern and central China.-Description:Cupressus funebris is a medium-sized coniferous tree growing to 20-35 m tall, with a trunk up to 2 m diameter...
(Cupressus funebris).