Welcome...

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

Pictured left is from our "History in the Making" tour on 7 March 2010 attended by 26 persons.  Just another example of the work we do to research, restore and remember.  As many were unable to book a place, there will be a repeat of "History in the Making" on 14 March 2010.   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 “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 Cheltenham and Regional 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
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
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
William Duble Rose - Funeral Director
Sir Edgar Stephen Tanner - Sports Administrator and Politician
Robert Charles West - Victim of the Westgate Bridge disaster
William James (Bill) Williamson - Hall of Fame Jockey
David Wilson - Murdered in Cambodia

This Month In Focus

With the release of our first book The Centenarians: Life's Quiet Sunset, this month in focus features Walter Marriott was born on 4 August 1897 at Moorabbin the eight child of John Marriott (1862-1936) and Mary Ann nee Anderson (c1863-1931).  On 20 March 1923, he married Florence Larrad, the sister of Annie Jack Donald Blackwood Larrad (1888-1989).  By the late 1920s, Annie and her husband William (Tom) Roberts were farming the land at Wychitella, near Wedderburn in central Victoria.  Tragedy struck on 23 Aug 1928 when Walter and Tom Roberts were out shooting rabbits.  The gun discharged and Tom was shot near the thigh.  He died 16 hours later leaving a loving wife and infant son, Teddy (1927-28).  Walter Marriott is buried near the Roberts-Larrad family grave while his brother, Hector Anderson Marriott married another centenarian, Edit May Marriott nee Watt (1903-2005).  As for Annie Roberts, she spent six decades a widow and died on 12 June 1989 aged 100.

Visit our on-line shop to purchase your copy of The Centenarians: Life's Quiet Sunset today.