It is unable to fund projects on its own, with its revenue coming entirely from people buying burial plots.
Seymour Cemetery Trust chairperson Angela Willis said the installation of a toilet block had been a priority for the trust for some time, but obstacles kept getting in the way.
Right before the last round of grants in November 2021, the irrigation system broke, with massive leakage that saw the cemetery’s water bill skyrocket and cost thousands in plumbing repairs.
The trust put together its master development plan in 2020 which included a toilet block, along with the expansion of burial land and other maintenance projects that was valued at more than $200,000, and applied for a funding grant from the Department of Health.
But the department indicated it was likely the project would only receive partial funding.
The caveat is that if the department partially funds a project, the cemetery trust can never apply for funding for that particular project again, and it still needs to make up the shortfall in project funding.
“Last year when the trust applied for funding for the master plan as a whole, the Department of Health indicated that it was too large an amount to fund at that time,” Ms Willis said.
So Ms Willis withdrew the application so it wouldn’t lose the opportunity to apply for future grants.
“Our next strategy is to break that down into different sections and apply for the toilet, the lawn grave area, separately, and gradually get it done in smaller bites,” she said.
“In March, the trust will again be applying for funds for the new lawn grave area and then the next round in November for the toilet block which we know the public really want there.”
She said the burial space needed to take priority over the toilet blocks.
“We need more space to bury people, it's essential. We’re getting to the end of the developed lawn and grave area,” Ms Wallis said.
The Seymour Cemetery Tust also maintains the Pioneer Park Cemetery, which no longer takes interments, meaning it generates no revenue.
In the most recent round of funding, the trust secured the resources necessary to fix the broken irrigation system and received funding to fence the works yard next to the shed.
“This has greatly improve the aesthetic and safety in that area of the cemetery,” Ms Willis said.
The trust currently has nine volunteer members appointed by the Department of Heath.
These volunteers administer all aspects of running the cemetery, including maintenance, finance, organising graves for burials and attending funerals and interment of ashes.
“The trust members work very hard in all these areas of keeping the cemetery operating for the community,” Ms Willis said.
“We are very hopeful that this year we will be able to proceed with more of our master plan and we thank the community for their support.”
Civic funeral celebrant Di Grant said she had been calling for a toilet block at the Seymour Cemetery for years.
She said she first raised the issue in December 2019 while performing a funeral in Seymour.
“I was told by one of the cemetery trust ladies that I would have to go to the racecourse or down to the public toilets near the library in Seymour. I asked why there were no toilets, and was told it was too expensive,“ she said.
“On December 22, 2021, I assisted with an interment of ashes there. Still no toilet facilities two years later.
“I said in 2019, and 2020, and I say it again now, that I still believe it is a compulsory facility in a public place like a cemetery which is used very often, all year round.
“Even a hired portable toilet facility would be easier to use than travelling kilometres to a public one.”
