AUSTRALIA ~ The Antipodes

AUSTRALIA ~ The Antipodes
I love a sunburnt country / A land of sweeping plains / Of ragged mountain ranges / Of droughts and flooding rains / I love her far horizons / I love her jewel-sea / Her beauty and her terror / The wide brown land for me / ~ Dorothea Mackellar (1885-1968)

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Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Odd Grave Features at Tyabb


In my recent wanders round the Mornington Peninsula cemeteries, I have been fascinated with the odd features on graves - Tyabb Cemetery at Hastings (on Westernport Bay) in particular.
Only this grave at Tyabb Cemetery features a kookaburra, but several graves in the peninsula cemeteries are featuring small solar lights either side of the headstone.


This one at Tyabb features a cricket pitch
The young boy here died at 13 and was a rising cricket star.
Using a shadecloth as a trampoline, he celebrated the win of his team.
But the shadecloth gave way. The Herald Sun reported this incident - March 10, 2009
His grave symbolises a cricket pitch, complete with white picket fence.


Here is a tall statue.
The height is a little unusual, but I have seen similar versions of this figure.
More unusual is how this grave area is arranged.
It seems to symbolise a sacred space. (No other graves are close!)
There is a tiny angel seated beneath the tree on the left.
The metal feature on the right appears to shape the cross,
but the segmented areas seem to suggest tiny garden plots waiting for plantings.
Is this complete?


Finally, this appears to be a mirror, now used as a headstone and covered in black plastic.
But where the plastic splits appears to be chipboard.
No mirror!

Special grave symbols
Perceptions of memories
Preserve identities



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10 comments:

Sylvia K said...

What interesting and intriguing graves! They do make one want to ask questions don't they? Terrific captures, Gemma! Hope you have a wonderful week!

Sylvia

Maude Lynn said...

These are fascinating!

Paula Scott Molokai Girl Studio said...

I love the kookaburras shadow-and I also love cemeteries. Love your speculations and my heart is also saddened to hear of a 13year old boy dying needlessly.

Julie said...

Firstly, what an excellent post, Gemma. I really appreciate the effort that you have put into researching and compiling your visit to Tyabb. I love that name, too.

I remember the incident with the young cricketer at the time. Obviously, something his parents had a hard time coming to terms with. I am so glad that the plot has not been vandalised in any way.

The idea of solar lighting is intruiging. I wonder why this is being used. To help 'light the way'? What do you think?

The one that really caught my attention is the one with the metal outline of a cross. That would be so good to memorialise as a garden planting with various colours in each of the rectangles. I wonder if you could return here in, say, 6 months and see if there is any update to the plot. It is such a complex layout what with the tree and that tiny angel as well. Ah, have just read the headstone, and although the name says Donaldson, she was born Georghiou on Cyprus. That makes some of it more understandable. Cant quite get the dates but I think 1947 to 2009, so a bare 62.

Thanks for your continuted praticipation in Taphophile Tragics. I am glad that you are enjoying this meme, that admittedly, is of a longer form than many others. I value your contribution.

VioletSky said...

I like the cross yard and can see it looking stunning in full bloom. The almost-mirror one makes me think the family couldn't afford a headstone so just made do with what was at hand... and then forgot? I am thinking that the young cricketer's bedroom is also exactly as he left it as a shrine.

Red Nomad OZ said...

What an intriguing glimpse into the concept of the afterlife and various perceptions of it! It got me thinking how I'd like to be commemorated - as a traveller and wanderer, scattered ashes in a wild and lonely spot are probably more appropriate!

Ann said...

the cricket pitch is terrific but what a terribly sad story to go with it.

Peter said...

Some really great stories, thankyou.

Joan Elizabeth said...

Solar lights ... that's new to me.

Annie Jeffries said...

What an interesting series with the last one most touching. The handmade marker suggests poverty in life but a wealth of love in remembrance.

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