Press Release – 30 August, 2017
Cemeteries Trust Works To Alleviate Sydney’s Looming Burial Shortage
Catholic Metropolitan Cemeteries Trust has obtained NSW government consent for the acquisition of 44 hectares of land at Wallacia, currently operating as the Wallacia Golf Course with plans to create 60,000 burial spaces over the next 50 years.
The acquisition follows research by leading town planning group Urbis, which predicts that burial sites in western Sydney will be exhausted within 28 years, with burials continuing to comprise 30 per cent of internments in NSW.
The forecasts are based on Australian Bureau of Statistics’ projections that Australia’s annual number of deaths will more than double from 142,000 in 2012 to more than 300,000 by 2050, exacerbated by an ageing population.
The Wallacia site is located 18km south of the Penrith CBD. The population for the Penrith City area is forecast to increase to over 256,000 people in 2036, with Western Sydney on track to becoming the city’s most populous region.
CEO for Catholic Cemeteries & Crematoria, Mr Peter O’Meara, said “We will be providing to all communities much needed burial space at affordable prices in a landscaped setting, mitigating the exhaustion of existing burial sites at our Liverpool and Kemps Creek Cemeteries, over the next five years.”
“We are seeing strong demand from various communities, who continue to prefer in-ground burial, based on their religious beliefs. Working with the NSW government we are committed to ensuring the interment practices and beliefs of all religious and cultural groups are respected”.
Mr O’Meara concluded “We will engage with the Wallacia Golf Club members and Penrith Council in the near future and look to provide recreational facilities that can be utilised by all in the western Sydney community”
For further information, please contact Tim Allerton on 0412 715 707
