Rockingham councillors vote to reopen Pioneer cemetery for one-off burial

Rockingham councillors have voted to reopen a cemetery 15 years after it closed to allow a one-off burial.

This comes just weeks after it was reported that up to 20 widows were now unable to be buried next to their husbands.

Council convened a special meeting on September 9 to consider altering a 2009 order that closed East Rockingham Pioneer Cemetery.

The WA Governor issued a closure order for the cemetery in 2009, which included exceptions for people who held a valid Grant of Right of Burial at the time.

At the same time, Rockingham council approved a policy allowing for more burials than the closure order allowed — but revoked this in April 2024.

According to a report presented to the September 9 meeting, the family of recently deceased Donald Arthur Day — a member of one of Rockingham’s principal pioneering families — had believed he could be interred into the same grave as his brothers, who are buried in the cemetery.

“Although this was the case under the council policy, it is contrary to the closure order,” the report said.

It said the family’s right of burial grant expired in 2011 and there did not appear to be a way to seek special permission to allow Mr Day’s burial at the site.

Citing urgency to resolve the matter, the report said the city and Department of Local Government Sports and Cultural Industries identified that a specific resolution by the Cemetery Board — the city — was required to fast-track the approval for this individual burial.

Councillors unanimously voted to amend the closure order to allow for the specific burial of Mr Day, which will go to the WA Governor for approval.

The report said the need to inter Mr Day fell between the revocation of the council’s burial policy and the city working with the department and Metropolitan Cemeteries Board to “find a more sympathetic and lasting solution to future interments at the ERPC”.

“The Day family has strong pioneering links with the Rockingham area,” it said.

“There are many family members already interred within the ERPC, including immediate relatives of Mr Donald Arthur Day.

“It is anticipated that Mr Donald Arthur Day would be granted special permission for burial at the ERPC based upon these circumstances.”

In August, 9news spoke to Sheila Goble, one of the widows impacted by the closure.

Ms Goble purchased two plots in 1998 for herself and her dying husband Fred.

But the new rules mean Ms Goble can no longer be buried beside her husband.

“Two weeks before he died – we knew we were losing the battle against cancer – I looked at him and I said, shall I go to the council and get us a plot? He said yes,” Ms Goble said.

“My father died in ’72 – he’s buried there with my mother – we always knew that we were going to be in the same cemetery with my parents.”

Mayor Hamblin told the news outlet that she was hoping for a compassionate solution.

Premier Roger Cook also weighed into the situation at the time, saying it was “very concerning.”

He revealed that he’d asked the minister for local government to work with both the City of Rockingham and the families affected.