The Traralgon Cemetery Trust has a Memorialisation Policy they ask those who own graves here to be aware of.
This policy will be reviewed two years from the date the policy was adopted.

Policy statement

The Traralgon Cemetery Trust understands, promotes and supports the use of a wide range of memorial items at the cemetery. The trust understands that memorialisation items must be:

• respectful to the deceased and all visitors
• durable (with the exception of fresh flowers and temporary memorials)
• safe for all visitors, cemetery workers and volunteers
• support the aesthetics, standards and general nature of the particular area of the cemetery
• respectful of and acknowledge cultural diversity.

Purpose

The purpose of this policy is to ensure a consistent approach to memorialisation that complies with the requirements of the Cemeteries and Crematoria Act 2003 (the Act) and the Cemeteries and Crematoria Regulations 2015 (the Regulations).

Scope

The policy covers all rights of interment for places of interment in the cemetery held by right of interment holders who have primary responsibility for maintaining a memorial, and/or any other parties acting on behalf of a right of interment holder.

Application for memorials

Anyone wishing to establish or alter a monument, memorial (including plants) or headstone must submit an application to the trust on the Application to establish or alter a memorial or place of interment form.

The application must be accompanied by the relevant cemetery fee, a plan or design of the memorial proposed to be established or altered, and the written consent of the right of interment holder. The trust may require a statutory declaration and/or other documentation if the right of interment holder is unable to sign the application form.

The trust will advise the applicant in writing that the application has been approved or rejected. Any application or approval is not valid unless it is in writing.

Any unauthorised memorials, monuments, headstones or other structures will be removed by the trust at the cost of the right of interment holder.

Temporary memorials

The trust will permit upon approval a wooden grave marker of height no greater than one metre as a temporary marker on a grave subject to the marker being maintained in a condition satisfactory to the trust.

Unless written approval has been received from the trust, the grave marker may remain in position for a maximum period of two years following a burial or until a more permanent approved memorial has been established at the grave, whichever comes first.

Monuments and headstones

Anyone wishing to install a monument or headstone must submit an application in writing to the trust, with the memorial being subject to approval of material, size, wording and compliance with the standards of the specific area within the cemetery.

A monument or headstone must meet the minimum requirements of the Australian Standard AS 4204 – 1994 Headstones and cemetery monuments, or its successors.

Any work must be undertaken by a party that has been accepted by the trust for safe work practices, and work will not be allowed to commence without the receipt of a permit from the trust. Each permit issued by the trust is valid for a period of 12 months only.

The trust:

• Will provide details of memorial specifications that may apply to the particular area of the cemetery, including height limits for monuments or headstones when requested.
• Has no objection to granite candle boxes being incorporated into the design of monuments.
• May require applications, at the cost of the applicant, to include design and strength specifications and computations from an independent engineer to ensure stability and public safety.
• Apart from temporary grave markers, does not permit the erection of timber monuments or structures.
• Does not permit the use of bricks or masonry blocks.
• Does not permit any inscriptions that may cause offence.
• Will not approve plans for monuments which incorporate garden beds.
• The Monumental Lawn 1, 2 & 3 memorial sections are to contain a granite headstone & base and all headstones must be the same material, size and colour as existing monuments.
• Only one headstone is to be erected for each burial.

Plaques

Anyone wishing to install a bronze or granite plaque must submit an application in writing to the trust, with the plaque being subject to approval of material, size, wording and compliance with the standards of the specific area within the cemetery.

Bronze plaques must be installed by persons authorised by the trust only and may be affixed to monuments, headstones, or installed in lawns, which then must be flush to ground level and positioned in front of the lawn headstone or principal bronze plaque.

Granite plaques may be permitted in some garden areas or affixed to monuments or headstones. Any request for a granite plaque must be provided to the trust in writing. All approvals or rejection of an application will be provided by the trust in writing to the applicant.

Memorials in rose garden

There are no stone/rock/bolder memorials allowed in the rose garden.

Memorial items

A person must not, without the approval of the trust, place the following items on a memorial or place of interment:

• Ceramic or glass items that are fragile or breakable
• Metal items that are likely to deteriorate.

A person must not place any item likely to cause a risk to health or safety on a memorial or place of interment. A person placing an item on a memorial or place of interment must ensure that the item does not extend beyond the boundaries of the memorial or place of interment.

The trust has the power to remove:

• any object that extends beyond the boundary of the memorial or place of interment
• any dead flowers or any other item that is in a poor condition
• any object placed on a memorial or place of interment in contravention of the Act, the Regulations or the Model Rules.

Ornaments

Loose ornaments may be permitted if they:

• do not pose a health and safety risk to the public, trust, volunteers, contractors and/or employees
• do not inhibit the maintenance of the cemetery grounds
• do not encroach on other graves.

Any items that pose a safety risk are not permitted.

If ornaments require removal by workers for maintenance, those items will be replaced with care, however no responsibility will be accepted for damage to items, or the accuracy of replacing such items in the exact location.

Candles and candle boxes

Due to the cemetery’s location and risk of fire the trust does not permit the lighting of candles in the cemetery. LED light candles are permitted.

Flowers and flower vases

The trust will allow both fresh and artificial flowers to be placed at a place of interment provided items do not extend beyond the boundaries of the place of interment.

• Breakable glass, ceramic etc. vases and containers are not permitted and will be removed for safety reasons as they pose a potential health and safety risk to the public and employees.
• Plastic spiked vases provided by the cemetery can be used as temporary receptacles.
• Dead and stray flowers will be removed as required by cemetery trust members/staff prior to maintenance of the area.
• Up to two granite or masonry flower containers may be affixed to the beam in a lawn headstone area, provided such flower containers do not encroach onto other graves or obstruct lawn mowing equipment.

Care of memorials

Care and maintenance of any item of memorialisation is the responsibility of the right of interment holder. Some of this care may include:

• Removing weeds in or around a grave (Note: no herbicide is to be sprayed on or around graves).
• Cleaning (including polishing) the graves and headstones, including the inscription.

The trust has no objection to a private contractor offering a paid service to perform this work, however private contractors must apply in writing to the trust before offering to undertake the above work and must comply with the following terms and conditions:

• The right of interment holder has provided written permission for this work to occur.
• No canvassing for business will be permitted within any trust-operated cemetery.
• Private records detailing ownership over graves will not be provided to anyone proposing an enterprise to undertake this work.
• The applicant must indemnify the trust in writing against any claims for compensation which may arise as a result of the conduct of the enterprise.
• The applicant must provide proof of applicable Public Liability Insurance cover and other insurances as needed.

The trust is not prepared to grant any exclusive right of trade for these services. Any further similar applications may also be considered for approval by the trust.

Structural integrity of memorials

The primary responsibility for maintaining a memorial rests with the right of interment holder.

When a grave, headstone or other memorial is found to be in a dangerous, unsafe or unstable state immediate action must be taken to make it safe. The trust will contact the right of interment holder in writing to inform them of the situation and directed them to repair, remove or make safe the memorial.

If the responsible person refuses to repair, remove or make safe the memorial, then the trust, with consent of the Secretary of the Department of Health will make the memorial safe by either lying down or removing the memorial. If this is to occur, the trust will request that the costs associated with the rectification are reimbursed to the trust by the right of interment holder.

If the trust is unable to contact the right of interment holder it will try to locate the person in the phone directory. If this is not possible, the trust will place an advertisement in the local paper.

If the responsible person still cannot be located to repair, remove or make safe the memorial, then the trust with consent of the Secretary of the Department of Health will make the memorial safe by either lying down, removing or rectifying the footings of the memorial, with costs associated with rectification noted in for possible future debt recovery.

Vegetation

A person must not remove, pick or damage any plant, flower, shrub or tree in a public cemetery without the prior written approval of the trust.

No tree, shrub or other vegetation may be planted in the cemetery grounds, or on or near a grave without prior written approval of the trust.

Management of litter and waste

There are bins located at the cemetery to enable the removal of withered flowers, wrapping papers, rubber bands, other handling materials and weathered ornaments. These bins are to be used to ensure litter and waste do not create a safety hazard or detract from the aesthetics of the cemetery.

If a bin is not available, it is requested that rubbish is taken away.

Theft or damage

The trust:

• is unable to accept any responsibility for the theft of any item of memorialisation
• is unable to accept any responsibility for damage to any item of memorialisation unless it can be shown that such damage was caused by tasks carried out by cemetery staff
• will assist memorial owners in making claims for theft or damage under the Victorian Managed Insurance Authority Cemetery Trusts Insurance Program.

Relevant documents

Cemeteries and Crematoria Act 2003

Cemeteries and Crematoria Regulations 2015

Australian Standard AS 4204-1994 Headstones and Cemetery Monuments

 

VERSION CONTROL

No.	Date	Comments	Next review
1	19/4/2024		19/4/2026