John’s achievements never to be repeated
John Gilbertson – the development of Bunurong Memorial Park
View John’s never to be repated development of Bunurong Memorial Park
The Development of Bunurong Memorial Park 1995 – 2004From 1995 to 2004 John was the CEO of the Cheltenham & Regional Cemeteries Trust, a public cemetery authority in Melbourne Victoria.
He was invited to join the trust in the later half of 1994 after 8 years developing a large corporate funeral business in Brisbane. Amoung his many achievements in the industry, John thought the challenge of working on a brand new site at Frankston Dandenong Road, Bangholme.
Bunrong Memorial Park is a 300 acre cemetery which was previously swampy land used for grazing cattle. The land was purchased by the Victoria Government but when John began investigating the progress of the development he discovered that the members of the Trust wer concerned about the quality of the design of the cemetery. After a brief investigation John contacted a civil engineering company to carry out geotechnical investigations relating to the compostion of the ground on which the cemetery was to be constructed.
Quickly is was discovered that in order for the cemetery to be used for burial ground, the cemetery level had to be raised by atleast three meters. This mean bringing in hundreds of thousands of clay suitable for the conditions required for cemetery use. The ground, amoung other important factors, needed to be stable enough to provide conditions that allowed holes for burial to be excuvated without collapsing during funerals or when cemetery staff were in the grave.
John discovered that there was already work done to the value of about $1m that was not appropriately designed or monitored and needed to be re-done.
Within 12 months the cemetery opened and after a further 18 months a new crematorium was designed, constructed and opened. Almost immediately Bunurong Memorial Park rose to 10% of the cremation market in Victoia, despite being under pressure from the largest cemetery and crematorium in the southern hemisphere which was just 10 kilometers away.
During his time at the head of the Trust, John became internationally recognised as a world leader and innovator in the provision of cemetery services in Australia. Many international experts visited this new cemetery He says in about 1998, Mr Brian Arnold, the then Chairman of The Necropolis, visited Bunurnong Memorial Park and said, “I wish we could teach our staff to prepair graves they do at Bunurong Memorial Park.”
Filed under: 1995 - 2004