Dearly beloved, we are gathered her today to remember Marty Smily.
A father to none, a partner to no one. He will be remembered for his courage, bravery and fearlessness.
Rest in peace
[Marty screams]
The reason that I'm six feet under is because this burial could become one of the better alternatives
for us in the future.
Right now, I have some grave concerns, that we're running out of space to bury the dead.
Especially right here in Sydney, where by 2050 its expected that there'll be no graves left.
In fact, some cemeteries have been full for decades.
All around the country, capital cities are having trouble finding new space.
So much so that you don't buy a grave for your loved ones - you rent one.
Which means that after 25 years, if you don't renew it, your dad could get dug up
and replaced with somebody else's dad.
So, what happens when there's no room left after I finally cark it?
Where will they bury us?
There isn't one cemetery in the country that's trying to work that out more than this one.
Rookwood, it's the biggest in the Southern Hemisphere.
The sixth largest in the world.
There are 1 million graves here that take up 286 hectares.
By car, it takes four minutes just to drive past it.
[exhales]
- Marty, welcome to Rookwood. - Cheers, this place is massive!
- Yeah it is, lets jump in that car and take you on a tour. - Sounds good!
So, how long until Rookwood is full?
Ahh, probably about another 10 to 20 years.
In Australia, every year about 150,000 people die.
So in Sydney it's about 30,000 or 35,000.
You would wonder why we're running out of space but when you've been operating for 150 years
obviously things have to fill up.
How are you guys dealing with space issues here?
Like, just looking around now, it looks like there's more space.
So I dunno, can you just fill in the gaps?
Well, we can, we can fill in some of the roads but thats only a short term answer.
The long term answer to sustainability and allowing us to keep burying people for generations
is for us to acquire new land.
So the biggest cemetery in the Southern Hemisphere needs more land?
Correct.
That seems crazy!
So, now we're in a spot that obviously full. I wouldn't be able to bury my parents here.
Who do you think this is a major concern for?
Oh, look it's a major concern for every community in Sydney that wants to have a choice to bury.
The obvious communities like the Islamic community and Jewish community.
Also most of the orthodox communities - the Greeks, Macedonians, Serbians
And then some of the Chinese communities don't have any option to cremate.
It's Rookwood's priority to find a space for those communities
because a burial is in line with their religious practices.
But with space dwindling - the cemetery has had to go above ground.
So this is one of the very rare spaces in Rookwood that doesn't have any burials in it.
It's not even that big!
It's not but what we've got planned for here is a multi story building that will allow us to
build 4,000 crypt spaces.
These high-rise mausoleums are just one way to bury the dead.
There are green burials - a spot in the bush on some reserved land.
No headstone, just some co-ordinates so you can find your loved one.
If you opt for cremation, you can turn your ashes into trees, diamonds, glass or even fireworks.
Or you can always freeze yourself, cryogenically, and hope that science can bring you back to life in the future.
But there is one more alternative that you may not have considered.
- G'day Marty - How'd it going?
- This is your humble abode. - It is, welcome, come on in.
Thank you very much.
Right, so you wanted to have a chat?
Well, its kind of an uncomfortable topic, to talk about death while you're still living
but it's something that you guys have actually made plans for?
Jeff and Gillian have opted for an upright burial with Tony Dupliex who runs
an upright cemetery without tombstones.
Everytime someone is buried a tree is planted in their name.
I do remember thinking, way back, "I wonder what it would be like to be enjoying spring time
arriving and thinking I wonder how many more I've got left?"
And I guess now we're sort of thinking that.
So, why didn't you just get cremated? Takes up less space?
The amount of energy required for one body apparently
is equal to the same amount of energy to paddle from Melbourne to Sydney
something like 500 miles, I think its about 800km.
There are 500 people like them who have booked in for one of these burials
and another 50 that have already been buried.
My concern with cremation is the amount of energy it requires.
We started working on this process in 1984 which is a hell of a long time ago.
And at that time people were equally confused and horrified.
We were accused of being ungodly and disrespectful
that's a massive amount of black balloons being released into the atmosphere
when, you know, you can do the process naturally.
One of the more delightful cases was a fellow who was a paraplegic.
He'd been in a wheelchair for decades.
I spoke to him before he died and he said,
"I just want to be able to stand for all of eternity."
We could do that for him. He was stoked, his family was stoked.
At the burial they had a great ritual and it was terrific.
Funerals have changed, nearly every funeral I've been too and there has been a few recently,
[Laughs]
Has been a celebration.