Grave concerns

By Kath Gannaway
A HEALESVILLE pensioner has labelled the Healesville Cemetery an unattractive hazard.
Tom Kennedy, 81, is also calling on the Lilydale Cemeteries Trust and The Greater Melbourne Cemeteries Trust, which recently took over responsibility for the cemetery, to justify an $801 charge for erecting the headstone on his wife’s grave.
Mr Kennedy walks regularly with his seeing eye dog Ramsey from his Farnham Road home to visit his wife Betty’s grave.
He told the Mail he purchased the grave site and paid for two internments and was shocked to find he had to pay the monumental mason the $801 before he was permitted to erect the memorial border and headstone.
“I paid the money so I could go ahead and finish the grave site, but I have rang Lilydale (Cemeteries Trust) and they have refused to give me a break-down of what it covers,” Mr Kennedy said.
“The money is collected by the Monumental Mason on behalf of the cemeteries trust but I still don’t know what the $801 is for.”
“It seems to me we are just a very poor cousin to the Lilydale Memorial Park and something needs to be done,” he said cautiously walking along a cracked and uneven pathway leading to his wife’s grave.
“I have already tripped on a pipe sticking up near the gates, and there are holes in the roadway, raised areas with bad access to the pathways, where there are paths, and they are all potential falling hazards for older or visually impaired people,” Mr Kennedy said.
He says he had no idea visiting the cemetery would be so difficult, not just for him, but for other elderly people, or anyone with a disability.
“There are real problems with accessibility, the gateways are too narrow for anyone using a motorised scooter and even if they do get in they can’t make their way to most of the grave sites,” he said.
“The toilets are always locked, and the seats are as run-down as the rest of the cemetery,” he said.
Walking past several collapsed, older graves, Mr Kennedy said he wanted a explanation of what his $801 paid for and why the cemetery has been allowed to become so run down.
The Mail contacted both the Lilydale Cemeteries Trust and the Greater Melbourne Cemeteries Trust which issued a statement saying they would investigate Mr Kennedy’s concerns.