Rowville Pets Memorial Gardens
Situated on a two acre site at the corner of Heany Park Road and Bergins Road is the Pets Memorial Gardens. This final resting place of thousands of animals was established in 1966 by Waverley man, John Alexander.
Shaded by a variety of oak, paper bark, crab apple and tall gums, with imposing ten metre high cypress trees lining the driveway, all planted by John when he purchased the property, this peaceful area is a part of Rowville unknown to many residents.
John first thought of the idea when the Alexander family's pony, Smokey, died and they could not find a place to bury their pet. He had seen pet cemeteries in England and Europe and thought there should be something like that here. After considerable research, he found that only Knox Council was receptive to the idea, so he purchased a six acre market garden from Guido D'Andrea in 1963 to set up the Memorial Gardens and Cemetery but it took another three years for Council to approve his plans and issue a permit.
Near the driveway is a large boulder with a memorial plaque placed on it by The Lost Dogs' Home in North Melbourne, which reads:
The animals interred here range from birds (including 'Cocky' the treasured mascot of the South Melbourne Cricket Club 1928-1966) to silver chinchilla, Persian, Siamese and domestic cats, rabbits, sheep, goats, guinea pigs, fish and ducks.
Many dogs are there including an Australian Champion St Bernard, poodles, corgis and German shepherds to name but a few and loved ponies and horses like the 1978 Caulfield Cup Winner 'Taksan'.
All dearly loved pets who have spent their lives giving joy and companionship.
John and his son, also named John, travel throughout Victoria to collect pets, even as far away as Sale and usually the ashes can be collected within a few days. If the ashes are to be left in the Memorial Gardens they are buried and covered by a small concrete block on which can be fixed an inscribed bronze plaque if the owner wishes.
It takes a simple phone call to the office on 9560 1742, for transport, burial or cremation to be arranged. All the pets are individually buried or cremated and afterwards many owners return to the gardens to place flowers on the grave. "They are not strange people" said John senior, "They have had the pet for many years and it was part of the family".
Many people decide to take the ashes of their pet home either to bury or keep in the small wooden casket which John provides.
John recalled an occasion when a home in Toorak was burgled and among other things which were stolen was a small wooden casket which could have been mistaken for a jewellery box. The thief would have had quite a shock to find not jewellery but the family pet's ashes inside.
Due to the high cost of rates etc. four acres of the property at the back of the actual Memorial Gardens were sold but by aiming to concentrate only on the cremation of pets in the future, there is still plenty of room left.
Patricia Parsons
Comments
From Kim Grieve (05 Oct 2004)
Dear John, John,
I couldnt help but feel that your advertisement on the web was actually speaking to me direct. Recently, we had the misfortune of having nearly lost our beloved Vashti a silver shaded persian. She is only a kitten, not quite 12 months old. She was having her eyes investigated at the vets and died on the operating table but was fortunately able to be brought back. I has made me think a lot about how attached I and my daughter have become to her. My daughter was diagnosed with diabetes/coeliac and glaucoma 18 months ago and Vashti was a deal with my daughter that if she injected herself she could have the cat she had so desired. After three months searching on the net for her we found the perfect companion and I must admit I have fallen in love even though I said she would never live inside or get of beds etc. Now when faced with her imminent death, I wondered where I would have buried her and I thought that to be buried in the backyard was just not an option as it had been for the many chickens and rabbits, yabbies, mice etc over the years. She was different, she was family and if I moved house, I wanted her to be with us in some way. Can you send more information, not that she is going to die now but i want to be informed for the future as I feel that if it had happened suddenly I would have made decisions for her that I would not have been eternally happy with. Thank you.
From Bryan Power (22 Nov 2004)
I believe that the contact for the Pets Cemetery is 9560 1742 or 0418 313 417.
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