The Sanctuary Garden at Gungahlin Cemetery, as seen from the air. Photos: ACT Government.
Headstones are out and roundabouts are in, when it comes to Canberra’s biggest cemetery.
Dubbed ”Sanctuary Creek”, a new garden at the Gungahlin Cemetery is said to offer families a uniquely Canberran place to remember their loved ones.
“The concept … reflects Canberra,” Cemeteries and Crematoria Authority board chair Neale Guthrie said at the official opening on Monday (20 January).
“You don’t have to be silly enough to see there’s lots of roundabouts here. It’s circular in design, and a lot of Canberra icons have been incorporated into the design … from the Mount Ainslie contours right through to the Gang-gang cockatoo and others.
“The design … provides a unique and bespoke offering for the Canberra community. The products are bespoke and the gardens and the creek line reflect the importance of the natural environment to the Canberra community.”
The creek is made up of several parts, from traditional garden internment options to a granite wall to house ashes (designed to reflect the contours of Mount Ainslie), along with lanterns and other spots to place plaques.
The granite wall, showing the contours of Mount Ainslie.
Meanwhile, the ”Canberra Grove” section is made up of vertical caged-stone structures with seven metal “branches” and space for two internments in each. The top of each is crowned with a metal stencilled artwork featuring Gang-gang cockatoos, the ACT’s floral emblem of the bluebell, and even the Black Mountain tower.
A variety of native and introduced plants, water features, and a covered rotunda area (complete with a power supply for memorial services) round out the garden.
All up, Sanctuary Creek takes up 1.3 acres (5200 sqm), and took seven months and $1.8 million to build.
There are seven of these structures in the Canberra Grove section.
Minister for City and Government Services Tara Cheyne said it offered a “broad range of burial options” to reflect Canberra’s diverse community.
“This continues Canberra Memorial Park’s focus on having options that are inclusive and reflect our community’s needs, whether that’s natural burials, catering to people of different faiths, or the internment options they’re looking for to memorialise their loved ones,” she said.
Later, in a Facebook post, Minister Cheyne said she could “personally vouch for how serene and contemplative a setting it is”.
Canberra Memorial Parks runs the Gungahlin, Woden and Hall cemeteries, as well as the public crematorium at Gunghalin and a mausoleum at Woden, as the trading name for the government’s cemeteries and crematoria authority.
Gungahlin Cemetery opened in 1979 and covers 40 hectares.
Ms Cheyne said while the Woden and Hall cemeteries were nearing capacity, “there is still plenty of space available” at Gungahlin, and would continue to be for an estimated 25 years.
Water is a feature too.
However, she added that the government was well into planning for a new memorial park for the southside.
“We’re just mindful that there is a tendency in Canberra to be quite parochial about where you live, where you’ve grown up and where you’d like to be interred; ultimately, and we’re just keeping a focus on that.”
The new ash interment plots are expected to be listed for sale on the Gungahlin Cemetery website in the coming days.
Original Article published by James Coleman on Riotact.
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