There’s a section at Kangaroo Flat Cemetery that’s been a mystery for as long as anyone can remember, but it may soon be solved.
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Radar imaging machines will reveal what lies below the surface of a seemingly unused area of the cemetery.
It’s an open space that appears empty of graves. There’s no records of whether it has or has not been used for burial.
The testing will look for microorganisms, a vital clue to the presence of human remains.
It will also test the soil, to discover whether the ground has been disturbed.
It’s a measure which has become necessary as the cemetery rapidly runs out of plots.
In October the Bendigo Advertiser reported that the cemetery was as little as six months away from having no plots available for sale. Those who own plots hold the right to be buried in perpetuity.
Remembrance Parks Central Victoria operations and partnership manager Wayne Evans said the organisation was low on space at Kangaroo Flat.
“We’re looking to identify additional space at the Kangaroo Flat Cemetery,” Mr Evans said.
“There’s a section there that is unmarked, and it’s unknown if there’s graves located there or not.”
If the radar reveals past burials the plot will not be used.
Instead Remembrance Parks Central Victoria plans to landscape the area to acknowledge the resting place of some of Kangaroo Flat’s earliest European residents.
If the radar shows nothing beneath the surface, the space – which lies adjacent to the Presbyterian monumental section – will be developed into a section for more lawn graves.
To find out consultants will use radar technology to scan the space, which is about 80 metres long. As many as 350 scan lines will be taken, to produce a three dimensional image showing the density of microorganisms.
Mr Evans described the image as “like a heat map”, using colour to indicate organism density. This will allow RPCV to know whether the space is home to human remains.
There is no record of burials having taken place in the plot, but it would be unusual to have such a large space in the cemetery with no burials at all.
If it is empty, the plot will be a boon for the cemetery, which now only has space left in the monumental section, and a single lawn.
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