Construction project starts on seaside cemetery

From Monday 29 January 2024, Council will start work on new ash walls and gardens at the Scarborough Cemetery.

Scarborough Cemetery has a long and important history with burials at the site dating back to the 1890s. For the past two years, there has been no more room in the cemetery for new ash placements, with the location home to over a thousand ash memorials.

Council’s extensive construction project will increase the memorial space and allow for up to 500 new ash placements spaces in one of the most scenic cemetery locations in the city.

During construction, a section of the cemetery will be closed off temporarily so that Council can ensure the safety of the worksite. This area will include the Garden of Memory (section 1 & 2) as well as the Seaview Wall. This section of the cemetery is located on the western side.

For more information, see here for a map of the cemetery.

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 that 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. 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,” Cr Bradbery said.

“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.”

This project is expected to finish by late April 2024. Council will update the Wollongong Memorial Gardens website with more information once the closed section of the cemetery is reopened.

For more information, call the Memorial Gardens Office on (02) 4227 7780.