Updated with quote from RPCV
Ray Stewart, still grieving the death of his wife Cheryl, was shocked to hear her grave at Sunbury Cemetery was covered in a huge mound of earth and muddy tyre tracks this week.
“My daughter Samantha called me from the grave on Tuesday (9 April) absolutely distraught at what she saw,” says Mr Stewart of Jacksons Hill. “Not only was there a huge mound of earth over two graves, but there were tyre tracks cutting through the grass too.”
Cheryl Stewart was 75 when she lost her cancer battle of nine years on 25 November last year. She was buried at the Shields St cemetery on Thursday 30 November.
“I nursed her at home right until the end,” says Mr Stewart. “We were married for 51 years, and knew each other for 54 years. She was my life partner and died in my arms at home. She didn’t want to die alone in hospital.
“After all the stress of what we went through these past years, it is just disgraceful what’s been allowed to happen at the cemetery. As a family we are looking at our options at what to do next.”
The Stewarts are not the first to complain about the cemetery. In January the Ness family found the grave of their son James disturbed by workers – see our report here.
Mr Stewart says he had concerns days after the funeral when a huge floral tribute left on Cheryl’s grave by the family was moved and left covered in dirt.
“She loved flowers and so we made a huge arrangement for her,” says Mr Stewart. “But this was covered in dirt when they backfilled the grave. What can you do? I removed the dirt best I could, cleaned the flowers up, and put the arrangement back on the grave myself.”
Mr Stewart called Remembrance Parks Central Victoria but was told it was a matter for Sunbury Cemetery Trust and its contractor. The trust has been approached by Sunbury Life for comment.
Jarrod Bell, secretary of Sunbury Cemetery Trust (and a Hume City councillor), was contacted by Mr Stewart via email on Tuesday 9 April about the “disgraceful treatment of our graves” and saying the tyre tracks were “upsetting”.
“Where is the respect and consideration for us who go there regularly?” wrote Mr Stewart.
A spokesperson for RPCV says: “The soil pile was created due to a need to conduct a burial near Mr Stewart’s wife’s grave which is to take place on Thursday afternoon.
“It is standard practice when digging a grave to create a soil pile and then fill the grave with the soil post burial and tidy the surrounding area.
“The soil was not removed from the area due to wet weather and an inability to drive heavy vehicles across the soil in this area of the cemetery. The tyre tread is not acceptable and the gravedigging operators were asked to remediate this. This has been completed today [11 April].”
