Standing room only at Australia's first vertical
cemetery
SYDNEY (AFP) - An Australian
company is set to open a vertical cemetery, with bodies buried
standing up and without coffins in order to preserve the
environment and cut costs.
Planning officials in Victoria state have given local company
Palacom the go-ahead to establish the cemetery at Derrinallum 180
km (112 miles) west of Melbourne.
Palacom director Tony Dupleix told the Australian Associated Press,
in a report Thursday, that the cemetery would offer a cheaper and
environmentally friendlier burial.
Bodies would be stored at a Melbourne morgue and transported to the
site for burial in batches of 12 to 15 to minimise costs.
They would be encased in body bags and buried in individual
pre-drilled three-metre-deep (10-foot) holes. The site would be
returned to grazing land once it was stable, he said.
Burials would cost about 1,000 dollars (780 US).
"When you die, you are returned to the earth with a minimum of fuss
and with no paraphernalia that would affect the environment,"
Dupleix said. "You're not burning 90 kg of gas in a crematorium and
there's no ongoing maintenance costs."
Darlington Cemetery Trust secretary Anna Jamieson said vertical
burials would not replace traditional ones at its existing cemetery
but would provide an attractive new option for some.
