Welcome...

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

Pictured left is from our Annual General Meeting held on 8 August 2010 attended by 16 persons when we made a special presentation of our DVD Remembering the Boys from Cheltenham.  Just another example of the work we do to research, restore and remember.

The Friends of Cheltenham and Regional Cemeteries Inc. covers two historic burial grounds in Melbourne's south-east - Cheltenham Pioneer Cemetery (Old Cheltenham Cemetery) (1864) and Cheltenham Memorial Park (New Cheltenham Cemetery) (1933).

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 “Mordialloc and South Moorabbin 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 Southern Metropolitan Cemeteries Trust.

Who's Who buried at Cheltenham?

Amongst the notables buried at the Cheltenham cemeteries are:

Clarice Marjori-Banks Beckett - Realist artist
Francesco (Frank) Benvenuto - Victim of the gangland war
John Booker - the last of Dendy's immigrants
Mother Margaret Mary Bourke - Catholic Nun
Ethel Jessie Bowe - Army Matron
Norman Edwin Bradshaw - Underworld identity from the 1950s
Dr Vera Scantlebury Brown - Pioneer of Infant Welfare
William Calder - First Chairman of Victorian Country Roads Board
Ronald Patrick (Ron) Casey - Sporting and Media Personality
Sir Matthew Henry Davies - Politician and Notorious Land Boomer
Sir William Gordon Fry - Politician, Solider and Community Leader
Leo "Lucky" Grills - Actor and Comedian
Mary Hardy - Television personality and sister of Frank Hardy
Air Marshal Sir George Jones - Last of the WWI air fighter aces
Mersina Halvagis - Murder victim
Edmond John (Ned) Hogan - Premier
George Howell - Murdered Policeman
Adeline May Keating - Businesswoman
Sir James Gordon Legge - Army Officer
John Mather - Artist
(Vetko) Floyd Podgornik - Businessman and Property Developer
Beverley Ratten - Shooting victim
William Duble Rose - Funeral Director
Sir Edgar Stephen Tanner - Sports Administrator and Politician
Robert Charles West - Victim of the Westgate Bridge disaster
Ivo Whitton - Champion amateur golfer
William James (Bill) Williamson - Hall of Fame Jockey
David Wilson - Murdered in Cambodia.

This Month In Focus

Thirteeth July 2010 marks the 17th anniversary of the death of Natalie Jayne Russell who was brutally murdered along with two others in 1993 at the hands of sadist Paul Denyer.  She was just 17.  Described by her family as "an excellent student and always popular with her peers; always making people laugh", Natalie was buried with her grandparents after a service at John Paul College attended by family and the many friends whom she touched in her own quiet way.  The Friends remember Natalie Russell and her spirit shall remain evergreen in the hearts of her loved ones.