Do we want a national cemetery in Canberra? [With Poll]

I don’t quite get the argument of families might not want their loved one buried in Canberra. If we had a national cemetery surely it would be up to the family if they want to take up the offer of their loved one being buried there? And not a requirement that they are buried there?

Given the antipathy of other Australians towards Canberra, I hardly think the idea would get off the ground. There’d be tabloid/radio outrage about “spending all that money on a monument in Canberra while hospital waiting lists are increasing / the roads are so bad”, insert the whinge du jour here.

Given the parochialism expressed by home townspeople after the recent deaths in Afghanistan, I hardly think they would appreciate the coffin being whisked away to Canberra for burial at the end of the funeral.

There is also the thorny question of how past prime ministers, governors general, etc will be represented at the National Cemetery. Will there be mass exhumations? How will the relatives and descendents feel about this?

It is a good idea but many years too late. It should have been put in place when Canberra was first established. Unfortunately it seems the horse has well and truly bolted on this one.

There may be a health requirement that cemeteries are not located too close to a lake used by many people for swimming, sailing, or boating.

Arlington may work in it’s place and in it’s culture, but there are 300,000 graves there. I’m not sure it would work here with just a few graves.

Doesn’t Canberra endure enough comparisons to being a dead city without literally giving itself a dead center?

I really think that the War Memorial serves this purpose well and far better than just a cemetery ever could. I too have been to Arlington and it pales against the WM’s facilities for empathic potential.

I’m also quite against burying any politicians in a commemorative cemetery, unless of course, they’re not dead yet. Even more fitting would be a life sized statue somewhere prominent. It would give the pigeons a chance to speak for us all.

Captain RAAF said :

Snarky said :

Captain RAAF said :

You’re all missing the point!

A National Cemetery is not for the families of the loved ones to come and pay their respects, it’s much longer term than that!

It’s for future generations to do so, for ancestors of the dead to make a pilgrimage, to educate our young, to remind our politicians, to act as a beacon, whether you view it as a beacon of hope or a reminder of futility it is a reminder all the same.

… so, what’s the function of the War Memorial if not exactly that?

Well with that logic, why does anyone go to Gallipoli or Villers Bretoneaux???

If you have to ask, then you don’t understand and should not contribute to the discussion.

why does anyone go to Gallipoli? Well, I’m speaking only for myself here, but I went because it was a historic site (and not just for WW1). The atmosphere, landscape, remains and memorials, as well as abundant documentation about the War, allow anyone with the mind to to begin to touch on what happened, and why it might be pertinent to learn from this and similar events that have rhymed through human history. What I didn’t go to see was an acreage of tombstones ripped out of context with a “Here be Heroes” sign stuck on it. A cemetery is corpses! The fallible, imperfect and ultimately irrelevant flesh shell that carried a brave, committed man or woman around. Give me a remembrance of actions, intelligence and courage over a display case of lifeless body parts any day!

If you have to ask, then you don’t understand and should not contribute to the discussion. [shrug] Check the poll at the top and the comments that follow. I’d say most of us have a pretty good grasp on the issues, and our own opinions about them. Whether you in particular agree with me or not I don’t really care.

Snarky said :

Captain RAAF said :

You’re all missing the point!

A National Cemetery is not for the families of the loved ones to come and pay their respects, it’s much longer term than that!

It’s for future generations to do so, for ancestors of the dead to make a pilgrimage, to educate our young, to remind our politicians, to act as a beacon, whether you view it as a beacon of hope or a reminder of futility it is a reminder all the same.

… so, what’s the function of the War Memorial if not exactly that?

Well with that logic, why does anyone go to Gallipoli or Villers Bretoneaux???

If you have to ask, then you don’t understand and should not contribute to the discussion.

Captain RAAF said :

You’re all missing the point!

A National Cemetery is not for the families of the loved ones to come and pay their respects, it’s much longer term than that!

It’s for future generations to do so, for ancestors of the dead to make a pilgrimage, to educate our young, to remind our politicians, to act as a beacon, whether you view it as a beacon of hope or a reminder of futility it is a reminder all the same.

… so, what’s the function of the War Memorial if not exactly that?

@Captain RAAF
I tend to ignore you, but you make it really hard, you TROLL

@ neanderthalsis12:25 pm, 01 Aug 11

+100

Great idea – fully supported!

Captain RAAF said :

Arlington National Cemetery is a fantastic place. I have been there twice and there is always a mass of people there. It’s a great experience for anyone, especially the young.

+1 Arlington really is a fascinating place. I spent hours wandering around while I was there. It would be great to see something similar over here.

Jethro said :

I like the idea, but not necessarily the location.

This. Keep it the hell away from the foreshore. Let the living enjoy the lake and the foreshore.

Where do our soldiers want to be buried should the worst come to pass? At home (wherever home is)? Or at a formal site of note like this?

The addition of PMs (or Gs-G) seems like an afterthought to make it more politically palatable.

Although I do appreciate the poll and discussion on the proposal, I don’t think this should be up to Canberrans to decide.

The only reason we are here, earning a living, is because it is the Nations Capital. Canberra exists to serve the rest of the nation, and if that means a memorial/cemetery/museam, etc. So be it.

I would rather we didn’t have one, but if we have to a better place would be on the (probably western) side of Dairy farmer’s hill as part of the arboretum.

They also need to consider the reason the Americans went this way and why Arlington was chosen . We dont have the history of a Civil War in this country.

Arllington was the house and homestead of Robert E Lee, which he abandoned after he took command of the armed forces Virginia and to lead the confederacy. It was only then that it was desigtnated as a place to buy the Union dead.

On a side note it as was returned to his family after the war when the courts found that it was confisgated without the “due process” (the process of civil war not seemingly enough for them) and the son then sold it back to the Govt for a tidy profit.

But this is why Arlington is what it is, not some random location by a river to be set aside as a National Cemetery. Let our fallen be returned to the ones that loved them.

My grandfather is buried beneath your standard issue returned service headstone, as a former serving member of the RAAF. He is also buried with his wife, amongst many of his friends from his later years, in the small town he retired to, and amongst the shade of the gumtrees.

Much preferable in my mind to a centralised cemetery, but I guess if there is demand for it…..

Captain RAAF said :

Great idea, should have been started straight after WW1 and we could have captured some of this country’s brightest and best, all in the one place.

Sadly, they are now scattered all over the place, in cemeteries that in 100 years (or less) will happily dig them up, toss them out and sell the plot to someone else or sell the whole place to a housing development.

Arlington National Cemetery is a fantastic place. I have been there twice and there is always a mass of people there. It’s a great experience for anyone, especially the young.

I don’t see a need for the pretty spectacular changing of the guard or anything like that, just a place where young and old soldiers can be put to rest. Keep in mind, Arlington also allows spouses of these people to be burined there also, so you’ll need a good chunk of real estate.

If it comes about, I will go there, in life and in death. I’ve earnt my spot of soil.

I think I’d rather a car racing circuit…

Jethro said :

I like the idea, but not necessarily the location.

+1

You’re all missing the point!

A National Cemetery is not for the families of the loved ones to come and pay their respects, it’s much longer term than that!

It’s for future generations to do so, for ancestors of the dead to make a pilgrimage, to educate our young, to remind our politicians, to act as a beacon, whether you view it as a beacon of hope or a reminder of futility it is a reminder all the same.

I believe that this raises the question of why we dont already have one?

What? Voting for lifeless prats to send to Canberra every three years isn’t enough for them? Well, as long as the states are paying for it, I don’t see why we should object to increasing our revenue stream from the city’s biggest customer! State funerals should bring pretty decent cashflow, I imagine…

We’ll take your corpses on election day, and we’ll have them back when their bodies die, too!

But economic advantages aside, it hardly seems respectful to dump fallen soldiers and veterans into the same patch of ground as politicians…

Don’t like this at all. It seems like an attempt to institutionalise a hero-worship that seems quite wrong. By all means document and celebrate the achievements of all these people and show how their efforts have made Australia as it is today, but don’t we already have a War Memorial, Old Parliament House and the National Museum for this?

At the end, every one of the people the RSL want to stick in this grotesque permanent display are pretty much just … us! They lived all over the country, had family, friends and relations in cities or towns we may not have visited or even heard of, but which influenced them as much as they influenced the nation. Let they and their families decide where in this huge country their earthly remains should lie – not whisk them off to a foreign cold lake shore in Canberra!

Why have a centralised cemetery at all, other than the photo-ops provided by something as regimented as Arlington? I would think most people would want their loved ones buried in their home town or close to the family that will remember them, not have to travel to Canberra eveytime they wanted to pay their respects.

Great idea, should have been started straight after WW1 and we could have captured some of this country’s brightest and best, all in the one place.

Sadly, they are now scattered all over the place, in cemeteries that in 100 years (or less) will happily dig them up, toss them out and sell the plot to someone else or sell the whole place to a housing development.

Arlington National Cemetery is a fantastic place. I have been there twice and there is always a mass of people there. It’s a great experience for anyone, especially the young.

I don’t see a need for the pretty spectacular changing of the guard or anything like that, just a place where young and old soldiers can be put to rest. Keep in mind, Arlington also allows spouses of these people to be burined there also, so you’ll need a good chunk of real estate.

If it comes about, I will go there, in life and in death. I’ve earnt my spot of soil.

Over the years there have been some utterly stupid ideas tossed around, but this one has merit. As the son of a Returned Serviceman, I like the idea. Location is possibly something to conider a little more closely but as suggestions go, we are the National Capital after all people.

I think that the Wall of Remembrance at the AWM is sufficient and much more poignant. Let those killed in the line of duty be buried somewhere accessible to their loved ones instead of at a USA style centralised cemetery.

As for dead PM’s, lumping them into the same category as servicemen is an insult! If I were still in the green machine, the possibility of being buried next to Gough Whitlam would be more than enough incentive not to get dead.

I like the idea, but not necessarily the location.