A graveyard sell out in Carlton

IT was a plot sell-out at the Melbourne General Cemetery last week, after 12 new grave sites were released to the Jewish community.

The $26,000 price tag did not deter keen purchasers, eager to  follow family traditions and buy their place at the historic Carlton burial place.

“Victorian Jewry has a lot of history associated with the Carlton cemetery, it was heartwarming to see the response from our community, and we at the Melbourne Chevra Kadisha (MCK) were privileged to be able to facilitate the purchases,” MCK director Ephraim Finch told The AJN.

MCK general manager Fred Grossman attributed the sell-out to the personal connection many purchasers had with the cemetery, having family members buried there or having lived in the Carlton area.

“People understood it was a scarce commodity, a once-in-their-lifetime opportunity,” Grossman said.

According to the MCK, enquiries are still being made with the Jewish burial society regarding the availability of plots at Carlton and other traditional cemeteries including Fawkner, Brighton and St Kilda.

The MCK received more calls than the 12 available plots and Grossman and Finch met with interested purchasers and took the opportunity to interview each to record their family histories in the MCK files.

“This is a unique service that we carry out for the Victorian Jewish community for all funerals we are associated with,” Grossman said, adding that Finch has been recording the community’s history for more than 25 years, including photographing numbered tattoos on Holocaust survivors upon their death.

The 12 plots were made available to the Jewish community after Carlton cemetery administrators made a small amount of extra space available in the Jewish sections. The Jewish burial sites were offered in a separate ballot to the general community by arrangement between the MCK and Melbourne General Cemetery.

DALIA SABLE