Karrakatta Cemetery

Cemetery in Perth, Western Australia

Karrakatta Cemetery is a metropolitan cemetery in the suburb of Karrakatta in Perth, Western Australia. Karrakatta Cemetery first opened for burials in 1899, the first being that of wheelwright Robert Creighton. Managed by the Metropolitan Cemeteries Board, the cemetery attracts more than one million visitors each year. Cypress trees located near the main entrance are a hallmark of Karrakatta Cemetery. The cemetery contains a crematorium, and in 1995 Western Australia's first mausoleum opened at the site.

The redevelopment process at Karrakatta Cemetery (termed ‘Cemetery Renewal’) began in 1969. Renewal involves the removal of headstones and grave surrounds, including plot markers. The headstones are either put elsewhere in a garden, plastered on limestone walls, taken by family or, if deemed to be damaged, destroyed. New graves are established in between the old. The new burials will have a headstone, but no marker is left behind to memorialise the historic burials. All mausoleums at Karrakatta are built on top of historic Roman Catholic burial grounds, and most cremation gardens are over historic graves. Under the current policy, no remains are disturbed. As of June 2023, 46 sections have been redeveloped and 31 sections are approaching redevelopment. Across all cemeteries in Western Australia, the tenure on graves is 25 years — whether for burials, ashes or mausoleum crypts. There is an automatic right to purchase a further 25 years, totalling 50 years. After that, renewal of Grants of Right of Burial is at the cemetery authority’s discretion. All 50, 99 year and perpetual Grants were extinguished on 2 July 2012 due to a provision of the Cemeteries Act 1986 (sch 2 div 1 cl 6). Once a Grant expires, control of the grave reverts to the cemetery authority.

, Karrakatta Cemetery contains the graves of 111 Commonwealth service personnel of World War I and 141 of World War II, besides a Dutch naval sailor of the latter war, divided between the cemetery's various denominational plots. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) has a memorial to 15 Australian service personnel2 sailors, 9 soldiers, 4 airmenwho died in World War II and were cremated at Karrakatta Crematorium. In addition, 7 Australian personnel of the same war2 sailors, 4 soldiers, 1 airmanwho were cremated at Karrakatta Crematorium but whose ashes had been scattered or buried at places where CWGC commemoration was not possible are listed by name on the Western Australia Cremation Memorial at the separate Perth War Cemetery.