Melbourne General Cemetery

Well maintained cemetery and was opened in 1852 taking forty two acres. This grave yard has the largest memorial to Elvis in the Southern hemisphere, also there is a small memorial to the Australian Prime Ministers by the main entrance. The cemetery has quite a number of graves that date back over a hundred years. There is only a small number of on site parking by the main entrance. Is great there are night tours a few times a year that maybe of interest. The mausoleums are beautify maintained in light stone. there is a set of public toilets also available. Due to the size of the place one can loose a day strolling through.

As a tapaphile I love MGC. Have spent many hours walking through the graves both as a tourist and looking for specific graves. With the help of the lovely staff I was able to find the grave of my Great Great Grandparents, the ones who bought my line out from England. It is well worth a visit but be prepared to spend a few hours.

The history enclosed by the walls is enough to give it a five star rating alone. Had a walk around for a couple of hours.

I visit the Melbourne General Cemetery regularly however, on my recent visit on 19 May '23 I needed assistance to locate the grave of my great great grandparent. Previous attempts failed. With the assistance of office staff member Bonnie, I was easily able to locate the specific grave with the map and clear instructions that were provided. Thanks go to Bonnie for the warm, friendly service. Bonnie was a delight to deal with. Regards K Duke

Peaceful place for walking with some important historic graves which are easy to find using the information boards.

Beautiful traditional cemetery, old graves, old styles. Smell the history.....

Good MUNTING prospects here! really fresh! had to wait in line a little but it was all worth it!!!!!!!

I have several relatives buried here. A lovely place to go and reflect on the people of the past. It is fascinating to look at all the old headstones, knowing that they represent someone’s entire life. It can get muddy when it rains and there are some hazardous pathways, but you can’t expect an entire cemetery to be completely maintained. The office staff are very helpful when it comes to located graves. Many of the headstones are still standing and most are well maintained by staff and volunteers.

Is it weird that the Melbourne General Cemetery is one of my favourite places for a nice, quite walk? I'm not the morbid type, and I don't have fantasies about handsome vampire men, but I really enjoy wandering among the graves. The cemetery is big enough to escape the sound of traffic altogether, and in the older parts it's almost like you've stepped back in time. Some of the early graves are in disrepair which is a shame, but given they're pushing up to 160 years it's understandable. The grounds are broken up into different sections for the various religions - the far south corner is Jewish, much of the edges are Catholic, and the middle has Presbyterian, Baptist, Lutheran and Church of England sections. You can see a map of the grounds at the entrances. A few different organizations do cemetery tours, both historical and fun 'ghost' tours - just search online - but it's equally as interesting to wander around alone, soak up the history and try to find some of the famous graves, like Burke and Wills. Just watch for cars and don't stay after dark - you never know what could be lurking behind the tombs.