Melbourne General Cemetery

The cemetery is divided by religious denomination, as clearly labelled on the site boards. At the main entrance is a memorial garden for Australian Prime Ministers, a lovely rose garden, and a new mausoleum with a reflective glass facade. Here you will also find toilets and the office. There is no extravagant statuary such as you often find in European city cemeteries and large areas are densely crowded with graves with no grass or trees. The gravestone inscriptions often indicate family origins in England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland which will be of interest to family historians.

A vast cemetery and place of interest in the middle of Melbourne. Beautifully maintained gardens and graves. Plenty of room to walk through and read on some of the fascinating graves and headstones. Despite being surrounded by a city population, you can find comfort and have a quiet time to reflect whilst on the grounds.

Beautifully maintained cemetery, certainly the largest I’ve ever been to. If you come through the main entrance there’s an office where you can pick up a detailed map, the wonderful staff can also help you with grave location, and there’s even umbrella’s you can borrow which was a lifesaver on the warm day we came. There’s toilets and water fountains spread throughout. We spent no less than 3-4 hours here and barely scratched the surface.

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.

Beautiful place. Project cultivate has been incredible to plant lots of native grasses, reduce herbicide use and bring lots of native wildlife and birds to the area. I love walking and riding my bike through here.

I visited Melbourne General Cemetery, and to my surprise, it’s one of the most peaceful places I’ve ever walked through. When I was feeling overwhelmed, it helped me find a sense of calm. It’s quiet, reflective, and somehow soothing.

Went to take photos and was just taken back how peaceful the graveyard is; truly somewhere everyone should visit.

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.

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.