Welcome...

Welcome to the website of the Friends of Cheltenham and Regional Cemeteries Inc.

Pictured left is from our recent commemorative service held at the Cheltenham Pioneer Cemetery on Sunday 25 May 2008 to remember the 1926 Caulfield Railway Disaster.  Just another example of the work we do to research, restore and remember.   More...

The Friends of Cheltenham and Regional Cemeteries Inc. covers three historic burial grounds in Melbourne's south-east - Brighton General Cemetery (1855), Cheltenham Pioneer Cemetery (Old Cheltenham Cemetery) (1864), Cheltenham Memorial Park (New Cheltenham Cemetery) (1933) - as well as the Bunurong Memorial Park (1996).

About the Cheltenham Cemeteries

Opened for interments on 3 October 1864, the Cheltenham Pioneer Cemetery was the first general cemetery established in Melbourne’s bayside and until 1917, was known as the “South Moorabbin and Mordialloc General Cemetery”.  A portion of the Cemetery was excised in the 1880s for the railway line to Mordialloc.

After the Pioneer Cemetery reached its capacity in the late 1920s, steps were taken to open a new burial ground and the first interment at the Cheltenham Memorial Park took place on 27 March 1933 on the 68th anniversary of the first interment at the Cheltenham Pioneer Cemetery.  The original area comprised 21.9 acres and was constructed during the Great Depression at a cost of £8,666 using local unemployed men.

A feature of the layout was the strong gridiron arrangement of roads and pathways contrasting with the serpentine layout of the Pioneer Cemetery.  The non-denominational lawn sections were introduced in 1961.

Both the Pioneer Cemetery and the Memorial Park contain the remains of many local, state and national identities. They are administered by the Cheltenham and Regional Cemeteries Trust.