I was intrigued to attend the Mid-Year Conference of the Australian Cemeteries and Crematoria Association (ACCA) at Mt Gravatt Cemetery last Wednesday (16 July). I had originally been invited to speak and had accepted (to talk about cemetery ‘Friends’ groups) and then had to withdraw for various reasons but was still invited as a guest after all.
As the conference was also a ‘trade exhibition’ with lots of ‘sponsor updates’ I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it was all really interesting. There were excellent presentations on ‘Public Health, Death & Innovation’ (casting a critical eye on claims behind some of the latest ‘eco-friendly’ burial techniques), workplace safety, Muslim funeral practices, the Headstone Healing Project in Toowoomba, and monument safety inspections. The shorter sponsor talks including subjects such as brass plaques, urns, funeral equipment, cemetery mapping techniques, the Office of Australian War Graves, and digital memorials.
Sadly I was unable to attend Thursday’s conference visit to North Stradbroke Island (Mijerribah) to hear first-hand from First Nations Elders about local Indigenous burial customs before visiting Dunwich Cemetery with the team from Redland City Council.
For an industry outsider like me, it was genuinely fascinating to look behind the scenes and chat at the stalls with industry reps. This included talking with the people working on the ‘Everafter’ mapping programme with Brisbane City Council and the challenges they have faced with some of the data. I also had good chats at the Byond Cemetery Mapping software and Office of Australian War Graves stalls.
It was a very memorable day and a valuable insight into the workings of conferences a month before the Stories in Stone cemetery heritage conference in Brisbane (at which a couple of the ACCA conference speakers will be presenting).
Christopher Dawson 