Northern Victoria’s cemeteries are set to benefit from a $732,537 Brumby Labor Government funding boost, Candy Broad, Member for Northern Victoria Region, announced today.
The Brumby Labor Government has provided the money for maintenance grants to small and medium-sized Victorian cemetery trusts, Ms Broad said.
Ms Broad said eighty two cemetery trusts State-wide will share $732,537 in grants, including:
- Murrayville which will receive $1,009 to install gates allowing vehicles access to the lawn cemetery.
- Underbool which will receive $14,000 to provide a wheelchair accessible toilet, with a cement slab.
“These grants are for small rural cemeteries with little maintenance money and will be used for essential items such as equipment, general upkeep, facility renovations, fencing and tree and weed control,” Ms Broad said.
Ms Broad said other grants made to small rural cemeteries range from $700 for landscape planning at the Horsham Cemetery Trust, to $59,430 for the Orbost Cemetery Trust to build a new memorial shelter.
Ms Broad said these grants also recognise the voluntary contribution of cemetery trust members.
In 2008 the Brumby Labor Government took action to support and maintain small volunteer cemetery trusts and ensure that the volunteers supporting these organisations could continue their valuable work.
“The Brumby Labor Government values the contribution of the thousands of volunteer members of small rural cemeteries across Victoria” Ms Broad said.
“The Brumby Labor Government was able to meet the majority of requests for maintenance through these grants,” she said.
Applications were assessed on the nature of works, the size and viability of the cemetery trust, whether it had received a grant in recent years and on other financial considerations.
Ms Broad said the grants would be particularly helpful to small historical cemeteries in areas where populations had declined and there were few new burials.
“These grants will help maintain the integrity and structure of cemeteries which are often used for genealogical and historical research.
“Currently there are more than 500 cemetery trusts throughout Victoria managing 564 public cemeteries,” Ms Broad said.