Changes made for iconic NQ cemetary
A NORTH Queensland council is offering a new range of burial options at an iconic cemetery.
The Hinchinbrook Shire Council voted on Tuesday, November 22, to adopt the Cemeteries Masterplan to provide a blueprint for the future use of the New Ingham Cemetery, including beautification and identifying potential cost savings for both the council and bereaved families.
Mayor Ramon Jayo said that included offering “more internment choices” and maximising the service life of the cemetery, which features a number of mausoleums that reflected the Hinchinbrook Shire’s ethnic diversity.
He said the master plan was modernising cemetery usage.
“There are different types of internment that people prefer, rather than the traditional mausoleums or lawn graves and headstones,” he said.
Cr Jayo said a new document would be prepared regarding specific use options.
“If you are looking to do something alternative, you don’t have to wait until the strategy is released, come and see council and discuss your options and we can go from there,” Cr Jayo said.
He said potential alternative uses that had been dis
cussed included using granite rocks in a garden form.
Cr Jayo said the mausoleums, although magnificent, occupied a lot of space.
“Family members have been inquiring whether they
can better use some of the under-utilised space for other members of the family to all be congregated together in the one area,” he said.
Council documents show that there are 1,780 unused
plots at the New Ingham Cemetery, 837 of which had already been reserved.
With an average of 71 burials per year, the cemetery in its current form had a projected 25-year lifespan.
A report to council said implementing the proposed master-planning strategies, including realigning roads and other measures would create additional capacity and increase its life to 32 years.