Visit the dead centre of town with the Grave nomads!
First there were the grey nomads and now there are the “grave nomads” and while for many people, visiting the “dead centre” of towns and cities is the last thing on their travel itinerary, for others, cemetery tourism is increasingly being seen as a way of resurrecting local economies, as tourists seek out the tombs of the rich and famous, or research their family history.
Cemetery enthusiast Hilda Maclean, from Queensland’s Griffith University, has been awarded a Churchill Fellowship to investigate cemetery tourism overseas and she will visit big and small cemeteries and churchyards across England and Scotland, researching the role of volunteers and the various types of tour programmes, as well as marketing and publicity strategies.
Ms Maclean will also visit Paris’ Pere-Lachaise cemetery – one of the most visited cemeteries in the world and the burial place of writer Oscar Wilde and Jim Morrison, from iconic rock band The Doors.
“Graveyard tourism is still developing in Australia and my research will help organisations and local history societies improve the visitor experience, as well as inform genealogists,” Ms Maclean said.
She said “cemetery friends” groups were being created around Australia, as people seek more information about their family history and discover where their ancestors are buried.
Ms Maclean has been president of the Toowong Cemetery Association, in Brisbane’s inner west, since 1998 and it is a passion sparked by her father’s interest in family and local history.
“As a small child, I remember seeing the Chinese headstones at the Cooktown cemetery (in north Queensland) and what an impression they had on me,” she says.
“Now, all these years later I am conducting tours of Toowong cemetery – Queensland’s largest Heritage-listed cemetery – and have won a scholarship to tour cemeteries around the UK.”
Churchill Fellowships provide an opportunity for Australians to travel overseas, research best practice in their fields and bring that experience back home.
Report by The Mole
John Alwyn-Jones
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