Harkness: reimagining the public cemetery

We recently announced our plans to 'reimagine the public cemetery' at our new 128-hectare site at Harkness. In addition to a public cemetery, the master plan will consider multi-use purposes for the site as it transitions over time to meet the burial and cremation needs of Victorians for the next 100 years.

Consultation on the masterplan with community is now complete. The masterplan is now finalised and we are working through internal approvals before it can be released.

As part of the masterplan design process, community members and key stakeholders were consulted on their priorities and vision for the site. This process sought to ensure that the design of the masterplan considers the requirements of the community that it will serve. This engagement period spanned from mid-November 2021 to mid-May 2022. Over this time, GMCT and the consortium spoke with the Traditional Owners of the site, local community members, industry experts, cultural and religious community groups, government bodies, and innovative future thinkers.

The community was engaged to provide feedback at numerous key stages of the masterplan development, including:

• From the beginning of the design process, prior to the development of the draft masterplan
• During masterplan refinement, including soft testing of early concept designs and programming opportunities
• Nearing draft masterplan completion, including testing specific site interfaces and designs.

This process aimed to take the community on a journey of masterplan development and provide transparent oversight of project progress.

The Sustainable Cemetery

Watch the event here.

The session was facilitated by James Reid, Chief Future Built Environment Officer at Greater Metropolitan Cemeteries Trust (GMCT). James briefly introduced GMCT before inviting each panellist to present. Each panellist presented on the topic of sustainable cemeteries and their involvement in the development of a new public cemetery at Harkness in the City of Melton in Melbourne’s west. The panellists and perspectives they brought to the conversation were:

• Alli Coster - Design Lead for GMCT’s Future Built Environment Team – Managing cemeteries sustainably
• Theo Gouskos - Managing Director of Greenshoot Consulting – Embedding First Nations Knowledge Systems and celebrating Culture through infrastructure design
• Miranda Wilkinson - Associate Director of McGregor Coxall – Design strategies for sustainability
• Samuel Holleran – Researcher for DeathTech at Melbourne University – The future cemetery - technology and trends

Presentation summaries

Alli Coster

Alli flagged that cemeteries often play a significant role in the grieving process for ‘one of life’s most truly fragile moments.’ In addition, cemetery land also plays a large role in the preservation of native plants and animals. At its core, GMCT provides end of life services, and the most current and popular interment strategies are cremation and burial, both of which are highly unsustainable. Alli pointed out that one cremation produces the CO² emissions equivalent to driving 600km in a car.

Theo Gouskos

Theo explained that a truly sustainable cemetery should seek to understand the profound meaning that connection to country has to Indigenous Australians. Caring for country must consider social equity, environmental sustainability, economic sustainability and cultural sustainability. The idea of a sustainable cemetery presents an opportunity to reflect on the histories of First Peoples, create a new space for creation, art and artefact, and support people to connect with the qualities of nature and history.

Miranda Wilkinson

Miranda explained that sustainability is at the heart of the master plan for the new site at Harkness, not only environmental, but quadruple bottom line sustainability. The intersection of design, culture and sustainability is a challenging proposition for cemeteries. Miranda suggested that this intersection is intrinsically linked to caring for country. If people have the ability to understand the site more through art and history, then people may be more likely to care for the land.

Samuel Holleran (Researcher, Death Tech)

Samuel explained that cemeteries are beginning to evolve into multipurpose greenspaces. These sites contain multitudes of environmental assets like tress and waterways which contribute positively to managing the impacts of climate change. Samuel also spoke to new, innovative memorialisation practices, such as human compositing and hydrolysis. Although both practices require further research prior to implementation, they are seemingly far more sustainable than our current normalities.

Key themes of our audience questions

The questions from audience members during our seminar presented numerous key areas of interest. They could be summarised as follows:

• What are the most sustainable interment methods and what will the new cemetery at Harkness consider?
• How will the site facilitate peace and comfort for its users?
• Is there an opportunity for more sustainable interment strategies to be implemented across Victoria?
• Will green burials consider options for family members to have a place to visit?

Our panellists favourite cemeteries

At the conclusion of the seminar, following audience questions, each panellist was asked, ‘What cemetery have you felt most connected to and why?’

Samuel Holleran

Green- Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn - Samuel lived adjacent to the Green- Wood Cemetery and loved the peaceful qualities of this site, including that connection to history.

Alli Coster

Fawkner Memorial Park and Northern Memorial Park - These cemeteries resonate particularly as Alli is able to feel a particular connection with place and nature on these sites.

Theo Gouskos

Fawkner Memorial Park - Theo said this is the site which he feels most connected to as his family are all buried there and the site provides him with a place to reflect and relive his family’s experiences.

Miranda Wilkinson

Melbourne Cemetery - Miranda said Melbourne Cemetery because she lives in close in proximity and during Covid-19 lockdowns it provided a peaceful place to reconnect with history and nature.

To learn more

To discover more about the master planning process currently underway for the new site at Harkness and have your say about what you would like to see at the site, visit the website at yoursay.gmct.com.au.

To learn more about sustainable death practices and future research or keep up to date with the latest research from DeathTech, visit their website here.

Thank you

We thank The Sustainable Living Festival for hosting our event.

Through December and January, we reached out to local community members and the broader public to learn about their aspirations and ideas for the site at Harkness.

We ran our first online survey, in which were gathered a variety of fascinating thoughts, ideas and opinions. We wanted to share some of these encouraging insights with you.

• 100% of respondents said they either somewhat supported or strongly supported a cemetery being used as a public open space, for recreational and/or cultural activities
• 72% said that they use cemeteries or memorial parks as open space or recreational areas either frequently or occasionally
• The three most common responses when asked what a cemetery should be included:
  • a nature reserve for the preservation of plants and animals
  • a place where visitors can learn some of the history of those interred in the cemetery
  • a place where people can walk, run or exercise.