Tuesday 17 October 2017

KARRAKATTA CEMETERY..MAKING HEADLINES OVER TIME..TROVE TUESDAY 17TH OCTOBER, 2017



KARRAKATTA
 making headlines

 Karrakatta Cemetery, Western Australia has been in the headlines since it was first mooted in the late 1800's. Having opened in 1899, it was planned to be large enough to cope with the ever increasing need for burial space as the population of Western Australia and notably, Perth, grew.

TROVE is a splendid repository of articles and you can read all about the planning there.

However, in 1902, there was a very detailed article about the various areas now available...

  You can click image to enlarge

 1902










Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Saturday 27 September 1902, page 28


THE ENTRANCE GATES AND CARETAKER'S LODGE.


THE ROMAN CATHOLIC SECTION.

THE MORTUARY CHAPEL.
THE KARRAKATTA CEMETERY.
(See Illustrations.)
The general cemetery for Perth and district at Karrakatta was opened for interments on 24th April. 1899. The Board in which the control of the place is vested consists of nominees of the Government and the Perth City Council. The members of the Board are Dr. J. W. Hackett. M.L.C. (Chairman). Mr. J. Talbot Hobbs, and Mr. J. W. Langsford, who are the nominees of the Government, and the Mayors of Perth, Leederville and Subiaco, and Councillor T. G. Molloy who are the nominees of the Perth City Council. The Board have vested in them as trustees a reserve of  564  acres, the site being in a line with the Perth-Fremantle railway, and the entrance gates exactly opposite the Karrakatta railway station. The original intention was that this cemetery should serve for Perth, Fremantle, and intervening districts, but the residents of Fremantle, considering that Karrakatta was too far away for them, have obtained a reserve of their own on the boundary of that town. The work of preparation at Karrakatta has been necessarily extensive and costly. The
whole area has been fenced with a substantial picket fence, and portions of the ground allotted to the various religious bodies have been cleared. The areas allotted are as follows:--Church of England. 40 acres : Roman Catholic.,25 acres; Wesleyan, 17 acres; Congregational, 10 acres ; Presbyterian, 10 acres; Baptists, 1 1/2acres : Jews, 4 acres : Salvation Army, 1 acre ; Church of Christ. 2 acres, Plymouth Brethren, 1 acre - Lutheran’s, 1 acre ; Japanese 1 acre: Chinese, 2 acres: Mahomodans. 2 acres; and a block of 154 acres is for those professing no particular religion.
When tile cemetery was opened a commencement had been male with the construction of roads, and the first section was completed. These have now been extended considerably and the planting as well as other necessary improvements, have been carried out as funds would permit. Up to the present, sums amounting to £6,500 have been granted by the Government to the Board, and the whole has been spent in clearing, fencing, road-making, buildings, and water supply. A sum of  £500 granted by the Government last year is now being spent on road-making. The revenue derived from burial fees, etc since the first interment amounts to  £827. As the construction of roads progresses, avenues are being formed and tree planting is being carried out. Up to the present. 2.034 burials have taken place in tho cemetery. Last year there were 730 interments, and the average of burials is now about two per day. Our illustrations show what improvements have been made in the cemetery. The whole of the work has been carried out under the supervision of the board's secretary and surveyor. Mr. J. H. Hunt.
Great Britain has endorsed the circular Note recently addressed by Mr. Hay,  the United States Secretary of State to the Signatory Powers to the Berlin Convention, urging the necessity for ameliorating the condition of the Roumanian (sic) Jews. The other Powers have not yet replied.

1904
Flames threaten Karrakatta

Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Saturday 16 January 1904, page 34
National Library of Australia
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article41703958 



1919

We face similar problems today..


Daily News (Perth, WA : 1882 - 1950), Saturday 31 May 1919, page 8

National Library of Australia
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article81392098 




1925

Vandalism also..

Daily News (Perth, WA : 1882 - 1950), Wednesday 2 September 1925, page 8 
National Library of Australia
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article78445098 


1929

 40,000 burials to date


Sunday Times (Perth, WA : 1902 - 1954), Sunday 30 June 1929, page 4 
National Library of Australia
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article58417812 



1936

Question of a new site

West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 - 1954), Saturday 4 April 1936, page 17

National Library of Australia
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article25146514 




1936


It seems that a more positive article was needed, after all, Karrakatta was now 37 years old.

Sunday Times (Perth, WA : 1902 - 1954), Sunday 19 April 1936, page 11 
National Library of Australia
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article58814184 

You can enlarge by clicking on image. 



So, what is Karrakatta like today? Remember that this is the resting place of many notable people, including the following...



Notable people interred within Karrakatta Cemetery include:
There are also ten Victoria Cross recipients who are interred in Karrakatta Cemetery:[8]

 Another is John CURTIN..


Reverend Hector Harrison conducting the burial service of John Curtin at Karrakatta cemetery, Perth, July 1945 [2] [picture]
Call Number
PIC/9682 LOC Box PIC/9682

 From TROVE... out of copyright   



Then there are many war graves... again from Wikipedia..

As at December 2016 Karrakatta Cemetery contains the graves of 107 Commonwealth service personnel of World War I and 141 of World War II, besides a Dutch naval sailor of the latter war, divided between the cemetery's various denominational plots.[9]
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission has a memorial to 15 Australian service personnel - 2 sailors, 9 soldiers, 4 airmen - who died in World War II and were cremated at Karrakatta Crematorium.[10] In addition, 7 Australian personnel of the same war - 2 sailors, 4 soldiers, 1 airman -who were cremated at Karrakatta Crematorium but whose ashes had been scattered or buried at places where CWGC commemoration was not possible are listed by name on the Western Australia Cremation Memorial at the separate Perth War Cemetery.[11]

Over four years ago now, I wrote the following story... to bring attention to what is happening in Karrakatta now...

2017

I'm sad to say that it is still happening... 99 year leases mean nothing, They are being overturned. The same is happening with 25 and 50 year leases.

Families are supposed to be notified before anything happens, but that's not always the case. Some have moved and there is no contact/owner of the grave listed. Others say that the first they have heard of their loved ones grave being listed for reinterment is when they go to visit and and find there is no longer any sign of a grave. Of course, they are told that all attempts to reach families is always made. It matters not that some of those who were resting there had served their country... they have as much chance of being disturbed as anyone else. 

If a family can afford to renew a lease, for a great deal of money, then the grave will be remain. Very few can afford what they are charging. Most of us would think that we own the headstones that we have paid for and the land that we bought in good faith to give our loved ones a resting place and ourselves a place to grieve and to pray and remember... It seems not.

Despite hundreds of protests, this travesty continues. There is a Facebook Group fighting the cause, and occasionally winning, at 




Please speak up, let your voice be heard for those who can no longer speak for themselves. Do you really want your loved ones reinterred with strangers beside or on top of them (the site is sold again) and no headstone to mark where they rest? We are taught from an early age to respect the dead.. how is this showing respect? 

Will they eventually work their way around the whole cemetery? Now they are saying that this policy only affects graves in disrepair... many can prove that that is not the case. 

You can read a notice from management here...



Do take a few moments to read other articles about what is happening... just Google    Karrakatta destruction of graves

You will find numerous articles such as these..












Speak up.. or this could soon be happening in a cemetery near you. How can this be justified? Is this all we owe our ancestors? 
This is a vast country, are we really that short of space? 

These were in a compound, if not claimed, then they were to be crushed for road base. This is obscene.


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2 comments:

  1. cazza197717 October 2017 at 10:09

    we need ppl to speak up and say this isnt right we the ppl of perth have had enough of not being listened too

    ReplyDelete
  2. Unknown17 October 2017 at 10:12

    My family came as pioneer/settlers to Northcliffe in the early 1920's. Most of them are buried here at Karrakatta. Some of the times was when their was much hardship in the world,, the Depression years and war years, and they scrapped together money to buy decent headstones for their loved ones for us to be able to visit in the future. Now they are being sysmatically destroyed at Karrakatta to make way for a 20% group of people who still want burials for their religious and cultural reasons. My family graves and 100's of others are being sacrificed for this reason.... it is heartbreaking for us who have had our families their all these years and now there is nothing to take flowers or tributes too, nothing....

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