Urgent need for burial sites in Sydney, at full capacity the Greek section of Rookwood within a decade

Half a century has passed since the last time a new cemetery was created in the city of Sydney, with the city's population more than doubling since then. The need for new burial grounds is becoming imperative with the Greek Orthodox section at Rookwood Cemetery set to reach full capacity in the next ten years, as Father John Gryllis, from St. Athanasius Cemetery Church, told SBS Greek.

Νεκροταφείο στην πόλη του Σύδνεϋ (φώτο αρχείου) Source: AAP

KEY POINTS

• The burial sites in the Greek part of Rookwood are sufficient for a decade
• Reactions to the new cemetery being built in Campbelltown
• Sydney cemeteries will run out of capacity by 2051

The capital of New South Wales has not built a new cemetery for half a century, despite the fact that its population has more than doubled in that time.

A report published two years ago found that Sydney's cemetery capacity will run out by 2051, while some religious and cultural groups could run out of burial places in just three years.

Speaking to SBS Greek, Father John Gryllis, from St. Athanasius Cemetery Church, Rookwood in Sydney, pointed out that in this cemetery, which is the oldest, largest and most multicultural cemetery in Australia, the Greek section has burial spaces for the next ten years.

"In the Rookwood area, which is considered the largest cemetery in the world, there is a problem of memorials spaces. For the Greek section we have about another 10 years from what they say. I have made arrangements so that we can exhume the bones and put them in a crucible. But they need to pass some kind of law in government. I have asked them to allow us to be able to do what we have in our tradition. Exhumation, washing the bones with wine and putting them in a crucible. They however have their own say," he said among other things.