{{Short description|Cemetery in Greater Dandenong City, Victoria, Australia}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2019}} {{Infobox cemetery | name = Springvale Botanical Cemetery | image =Springvale Botanical Cemetery, Princes Hwy Entrance.jpg | imagesize = | alt = | caption = Springvale Botanical Cemetery's Princes Highway entrance. | established = 1901 | country = Australia | location = Springvale, Victoria | coordinates = {{coord|37|56|33|S|145|10|32|E|region:AU|display=title,inline}} | type = | style = | owner = | size = | graves = | interments = | cremations = | leases = | website = [https://smct.org.au/our-locations/about-springvale-botanical-cemetery Springvale Botanical Cemetery] | findagraveid= 2224345 | nrhp = | embedded = }} The '''Springvale Botanical Cemetery''' is the largest crematorium and memorial park in Victoria, Australia, located in the southeastern Melbourne suburb of Springvale.
==History== Originally known as The Necropolis Springvale, the cemetery commenced operations in 1901.<ref name="smct">{{cite web |title=About our Cemetery |url=https://smct.org.au/our-locations/about-springvale-botanical-cemetery/sbc-history |publisher=Southern Metropolitan Cemeteries Trust |accessdate=2023-02-23}}</ref> Between 1904 and 1952 it was served by its own railway branch line and station, by which coffins, passengers and staff were conveyed to the cemetery.<ref>Springvale Cemetery Railway, Mitchell, Frank, ''Green Over Red'' – Box Hill, Vic. March, 1968 pp. 5–6</ref><ref name=gadd>{{cite news |last1=Gadd |first1=Denise |title=New life for the city of the dead |url=https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/new-life-for-the-city-of-the-dead-20120214-1t3z2.html |accessdate=2018-08-26 |work=The Age |date=2012-02-15}}</ref> The first cremation took place at Springvale in April 1905.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9885398 |title=Cremation. |newspaper=The Argus |location=Melbourne |date=14 April 1905 |accessdate=11 January 2015 |page=5 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref> According to the Southern Metropolitan Cemeteries Trust, here have been approximately 473,000 cremations and 162,000 burials at the Springvale Botanical Cemetery.<ref>{{cite web |title=Springvale Botanical Cemetery History |url=https://smct.org.au/our-locations/about-springvale-botanical-cemetery/sbc-history |publisher=Southern Metropolitan Cemeteries Trust |access-date=21 August 2021}}</ref>
In 2006, the cemetery was renamed the Springvale Botanical Cemetery to reflect its increasing botanical significance, which includes original plantings of two bunya pines, palms and gums.<ref name=gadd/> It is now administered by the Southern Metropolitan Cemeteries Trust, which manages nine cemeteries in all, including the Melbourne General Cemetery, St Kilda Cemetery and Dandenong Community Cemetery.<ref>{{cite web |title=Our Cemeteries |url=https://smct.org.au/our-cemeteries/ |publisher=Southern Metropolitan Cemeteries Trust |accessdate=2023-02-23}}</ref>
==Notable interments== {{Colbegin}} * Frank Bladin (1898–1978), RAAF commander * Scobie Breasley (1914–2006), champion jockey * Sir Henry George "Harry" Chauvel (1865–1945), WWI Australian general * A. R. Chisholm (1888–1981), French language scholar * Sir Zelman Cowen (1919–2011), governor-general * Cyril Clowes (1892–1968), soldier * Erle Cox (1873–1950), author * Frank Crean (1916–2008), deputy prime minister * Bernard Cronin (1884–1968), author * Judith Durham (1943–2022), singer, songwriter * Jack Dyer (1913–2003), footballer * James Fowler (1863–1940), politician, author * Cathy Godbold (1974–2018), actress * Robert Grieve VC (1889–1957), soldier * Charles Hegyalji (1956–1998), gangster * Walter Hume (1873–1943), inventor, concrete pipe developer * Richard Kelliher VC (1910–1963), soldier * Graham Knight (1931–2026), Australian rules football player * Jim Lawn (1902–1972), footballer * Jack Little (1908–1986), media personality * Rosemary Margan (1937–2017), radio and television personality * John McEwen (1900–1980), prime minister * Bert Newton (1938–2021) TV and radio presenter, entertainer and actor * Bess Norriss (1878–1939), artist * Horace Petty (1904–1982), politician * Tracy Pew (1957–1986), musician * Dorothy Porter (1954–2008), poet * Julia Rapke (1886–1959), women's rights activist * Ethel Tracy Richardson (1877–1942), nursing sister, army matron-in-chief, honorary major * Macpherson Robertson (1859–1945), chocolate manufacturer, philanthropist * John Ryan VC (1890–1941), soldier * Reginald Sholl (1902–1988), Supreme Court justice, diplomat * Billy Snedden (1926–1987), politician * Charles Tait (1868–1933), film maker, theatrical entrepreneur * Bud Tingwell (1923–2009), actor * Fannie Eleanor Williams (1884–1963), scientist * Kath Williams (1895–1975), trade unionist, equal pay campaigner * Tommy Woodcock (1905–1985), Phar Lap's handler * Bill Woodfull (1897–1965), cricketer * Henry Wynter (1886–1945), soldier {{Colend}}
==War graves== The Botanical Cemetery contains the war graves of 156 Commonwealth service personnel, from both World Wars.<ref name=cwgc>[http://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/2000395/SPRINGVALE%20BOTANICAL%20CEMETERY,%20MELBOURNE Springvale Botanical Cemetery] – CWGC Cemetery Report.</ref> The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) commemorates 65 Commonwealth service personnel cremated during World War II at Springvale Crematorium whose ashes remain here.<ref>cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/2090472/springvale-crematorium-melbourne/</ref>
Within two acres of the Botanical Cemetery, beyond the crematorium, lies the CWGC's '''Springvale War Cemetery''', created in World War II, where are buried 607 Commonwealth service personnel and 4 Dutch personnel. It contains a Cross of Sacrifice unveiled in 1948.<ref>cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/2082901/springvale-war-cemetery/</ref> In the form of bronze plaques on the rear wall of the shelter behind the Cross is the Victoria Cremation Memorial to 75 Commonwealth service personnel cremated within the State of Victoria whose ashes were laid where a memorial could not be sited.<ref>cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/2082902/victoria-cremation-memorial</ref>
==See also== * Luciano Rossetti Mausoleum
== References == {{Reflist}}
==Further reading== * Chambers, D (2001) ''City of the Dead: A History of The Necropolis, Springvale'', Flemington Vic: Hyland House {{ISBN|1-86447-020-8}}
== External links == * [https://smct.org.au/our-locations/about-springvale-botanical-cemetery Springvale Botanical Cemetery website] * [http://billiongraves.com/pages/cemeteries/Springvale-Botanical-Cemetery/178602 Springvale Botanical Cemetery] – Billion Graves * {{Find a Grave cemetery|2224345}}
Category:1901 establishments in Australia Category:Cemeteries in Melbourne Category:Buildings and structures in the City of Greater Dandenong