Waverley Cemetery on death bed

Waverley Cemetery is on its last legs due to years of infrastructure neglect and a lack of maintenance.

The historic cemetery – renowned for its impressive monuments and famous gravestones – is subject to falling walls, broken fences and vandals.

“It’s certainly in a state of disrepair,” said Waverley Councillor Paula Masselos. “This is a historic place, we are guardians of this place, and we have a responsibility to keep it and look after it.”

The cemetery itself runs as its own business, selling burial plots and using the money to maintain its budget. However, the amount of plots is limited and the current maintenance is insufficient to restore the weakening infrastructure.

Council estimates that $9 million is required to completely repair the roads, walls, fences and buildings in the cemetery.

“Council are in the process of developing alternative funding strategies for the cemetery and are working with local community members to develop a new business plan, and looking at the feasibility of financing some things by loans,” said Liberal Councillor Angela Burrill. “However, the challenge is significant and the financial issues are not resolved yet”.

Alternative funding strategies include looking at an area within the cemetery where funeral and memorial services could be held, together with the proposal for a larger fence and walls.

Another alternative strategy is the building of a perimeter wall incorporating sandstone pillars with saleable niches for ashes interment.

Ms Masselos said any attempt to commercialise the cemetery would not be popular with the community.

“The question is whether a cemetery of this historical significance should be turned into a money-making operation. I think there’s a significant objection to that in the community,” she said.

Waverley Mayor Sally Betts said alternative funding strategies were necessary for the future of Waverley Cemetery.

“People want us to keep the cemetery up but they don’t want us to do anything to change it. Well you can’t have it both ways; you can’t have the cemetery fixed without us doing something,” she said.

Vandals are also a problem in the park. “We do have some itinerants who have parties there and there is a fair amount of destruction,” said Ms Betts.

Ms Betts has high hopes the new fence and wall will solve many problems. “If we fenced the whole cemetery we would replace any broken walls, the fences could stop the vandals and the walls would give us the ability to sell niches to raise some money as well. To me it’s all good,” she said.

The pavilion and new fence are concepts and have not yet been drafted into plans.