An environmental group has called on Victorian premier Daniel Andrews to stop Altona Memorial Park extending on to Crown land of Aboriginal significance in Altona North.
Friends of Lower Kororoit Creek president Geoff Mitchelmore said the Greater Metropolitan Cemeteries Trust (GMCT) planned to extend its existing cemetery onto land bounded by Dohertys Road, Grieve Parade and Kororoit Creek.
Mr Mitchelmore said the land was, in part, an undisturbed Aboriginal heritage site and home to many species of birds and other important wildlife.
“It would be criminal for us to lose that land that was of great significance to the Aboriginals thousands of years ago,” he said.
In 2009, the Friends group commissioned Biosis Research archaelogists to investigate the site. In an hour they discovered a large number of Aboriginal artefacts.
The archaeologists had the land declared a site of cultural importance.
A spokesperson for Altona MP Jill Hennessy said after receiving the Friends’ submission that the government had raised these concerns with the GMCT.
“The trust has assured the government that it recognised the site for its cultural significance and that there are currently no plans to develop this land for burial purposes,” she said.
Trust CEO Jacqui Briggs-Weatherill said the Crown land in question had been reserved for cemetery purposes since the memorial park was created about 1961.
“Having learned of the cultural heritage significance of the land in question, GMCT is now investigating appropriate use of the land,” she said.
“There is a shortage of cemetery land to serve the future needs of the communities in Melbourne’s western growth corridors.
“The main Altona Memorial Park site currently has capacity for approximately 10-15 more years and the portion of the site that might be appropriate for normal cemetery activities is limited to the area toward the corner of Dohertys Rd and Grieve Parade, comprising about one quarter of the site.”
