Wollongong City Council is installing new ‘ash walls’ at Scarborough Cemetery. Photo: Wollongong City Council.
If you want to gaze out at the ocean for eternity, we’ve got some good news for you.
From Monday 29 January Wollongong City Council will start work on new ‘ash walls’ and gardens at the Scarborough Cemetery.
Burials at the historic site date back to the 1980s, but recently, like much of the rest of the Illawarra, real estate in the cemetery has been hard to come by.
The site, on a headland and bounded by Lawrence Hargrave Drive to the west, long ago ran out of room for traditional burials.
More than a thousand people have had their ashes memorialised there, but for the past two years there has been no room for further ash placements.
The council’s extensive construction project will increase the memorial space and allow for up to 500 new ash placement spaces in one of the most scenic cemetery locations in the city.
During construction, a section of the cemetery will be closed temporarily so the council can ensure the safety of the worksite.
This area will include the Garden of Memory (section one and two) as well as the Seaview Wall, located on the western side.
The rest of the Scarborough Cemetery and road will remain open to the public during construction.
Wollongong City Lord Mayor Councillor Gordon Bradbery AM said the new section would allow more people to place the ashes of their loved ones to rest.
“We’ve been unable to place new ashes in the Scarborough Cemetery for some time now,” he said.
“The existing Seaview Wall is a repository for the cremated remains of loved ones.
“This project, to expand the cemetery, will have a small but important benefit for our community as we have received many enquiries from people who are interested in memorialising their loved one at this beautiful, coastal location.
“At the same time, we will do our best to minimise the impact of this work on the families who visit the cemetery to pay their respects. We need to close a portion of the cemetery during construction so that we can safely build the new area.
“We appreciate this may have an impact on a small number of families. Please know that we’ll be taking care not to disturb any ashes already placed at the cemetery and that we will reopen this part of the cemetery as soon as we can.”
For more information, click here for a map of the cemetery.
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