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Canberra Today 20°/24° | Friday, March 29, 2024 | Digital Edition | Crossword & Sudoku

So, what’s it like to be a grave digger?

GRAVE digging may be considered a dirty job, but someone has got to do it.

And it’s grave digger Luke Triffett, grounds supervisor of Gungahlin Cemetery, and his fellow grave diggers that, despite modern technology, still get down and dirty to dig graves by hand.

“We use the back hoe, mini excavator and sometimes by hand,” Luke says.

“That takes a bit of time. There are certain areas that we have where we can’t get the machinery to.

“Quite often we have to get in there with crowbars and shovels.”

Opened in 1979, the Gungahlin Cemetery is Canberra’s biggest, and covers 40 hectares of ground.

And despite coming into its 33rd year, according to Luke, it still has another 70 to 100 years to go, as opposed to the Woden cemetery which “is almost full, probably in about eight years roughly”.

On average, Luke and his grounds team of three dig about a grave a day, among the other general grounds maintenance.

Graves include the typical “6ft-deep” ground burials and 2m-deep vault burials that, unlike ground graves, are filled with cement not soil.

“It’s popular with the Italian and Greek community, who like the sense of being dry,” he said.

“They purchase these, we install them, and they put their monuments on top.”

Although prices are up for review, it would typically cost about $4000 to $5000 for a ground burial and about $10,000 for a vault burial.

As Luke says, “it’s like property, it keeps going up in value”, so it’s no surprise some families invest in groups of allotments.

“A Chinese family came in the other day and bought 10 allotments in one hit,” he said.

“They want to be buried with their ancestors and relatives.”

Luke, a horticulturalist, had previously worked on golf courses before wanting a change and a challenge. And he found it.

“Obviously there’s a lot of work, we are on about 40 hectares here, quite a bit of ground to cover and we only have four guys,” he said.

“Our biggest challenge is time management, getting everything done and keeping everyone happy.

“It’s a job certain people don’t want to do, others relish it. We are empathetic towards the families, so we are very understanding of where they are coming from and tailor our actions to their needs.

“We give them as much peace and space as we can. It’s more rewarding when families come and ask you for help.”

But although he says he’s comfortable dealing with death on a daily basis, he’s “always mindful of where you are and what you are doing”.

And although he won’t comment on whether there has been incidents of graves being tampered with, he says that “you’ll be surprised” about some of the things that can happen at the cemetery.

“We have a lot of families who come in here with their picnic blankets and their dog,” he said.

“I’ve come in here on a weekend for a burial and there’s a family of 15 or 18 with tables and chairs having lunch.”

He also says the job has opened his eyes to new cultures and a new respect for many different burial customs.

“I find the Chinese to be quite interesting to watch because they bring huge big dishes of freshly baked food and roast duck, rice and fruit,” he said. “They leave it on the grave for their loved ones.”

And being surrounded by death, surely it can be at times scary?

“I’ve been out here at night and there’s nothing to be afraid of,” he said.

“Early on a winter’s morning it’s beautiful here, it’s a like a white Christmas. Autumn is also quite beautiful.”

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Ian Meikle, editor

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