Remembrance Parks - Your Cemeteries, Your Views Survey

Thank you for taking the time to tell us what is important to you about our cemeteries. Your thoughts will help us understand what you value about visiting the cemeteries, how you care for loved ones' graves and how you wish to personalise them. Your feedback is essential in helping us develop new guidelines for memorial tributes and to improve our cemeteries.

If completing this survey causes you any distress, please reach out to Lifeline on 13 11 14.

Lauretta Stace
Chief Executive Officer
Remembrance Parks Central Victoria

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* 1. In which cemetery/s do you have a loved one interred or memorialised?

Axedale

Axedale Catholic Cemetery

Bendigo

Donnybrook

Eaglehawk

Kangaroo Flat

Kialla West

Pine Lodge

White Hills

Heathcote

Sunbury

None of the above

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* 2. Please nominate which is the MAIN cemetery you would like to focus on in this survey. If there are other cemeteries you wish to provide feedback on, please complete another survey (link provided at the end).

Axedale

Axedale Catholic Cemetery

Bendigo

Donnybrook

Eaglehawk

Heathcote

Kangaroo Flat

Kialla West

Pine Lodge

Sunbury

White Hills

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* 3. How would you describe the current look and feel of the cemetery?

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* 4. How would you describe the overall presentation and maintenance of the cemetery?

Poorly presented

Could do with more maintenance

Acceptable

Well presented and maintained

Excellent

N/A

Poorly presented

Could do with more maintenance

Acceptable

Well presented and maintained

Excellent

N/A

Please provide more information if you wish

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* 5. What do you value most about the cemetery?

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* 6. How often do you visit the cemetery?

Daily

Weekly

Monthly

Rarely

Never

Other (please specify)

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* 7. What activities do you engage in during your visits? Select one or more.

Cleaning and tidying up

Mowing and/or plants/tree maintenance

Sitting and spend time with my loved one

Chatting with other people who are there

Eating or drinking

Changing fresh flowers or watering pot plants

Checking that my items are still on the grave

Other (please specify)

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* 8. What activities do you do in other parts of the cemetery or during specific times of the year? Select one or more.

Walking and enjoying the space

Undertaking local or family history research

Tidying or maintaining other graves

Watering or tending to plants and trees

Making a special seasonal display (Christmas, Easter etc)

Acknowledging a birthday or anniversary

Acknowledging another special day (please specify)

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* 9. What amenities would you like to see in the cemetery for all visitors to use?

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* 10. How much flexibility should everyone have in choosing how to personalise a grave?

A lot

Some

Little

None

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* 11. How much do you like to personalise your loved ones grave/s ?

I like a standard site and don't want any personalisation

I am happy with a vase for flowers but that's it

I like a bit of personalisation and I add something meaningful such as a statue or light

I like to have a few things such as pot plants, flowers and/or a solar light

I like a lot of personalisation with multiple items

Other (please specify)

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* 12. What types or items of personalisation are most important to you?

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* 13. How do you want the grave to look so it holds meaning for you?

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* 14. Are you aware of the current adornment policy at Remembrance Parks?

Yes

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* 15. Have you encountered any issues or challenges related to the current adornment policy during your visits to Remembrance Parks? Tick all that apply.

I had adornments removed

I was worried my adornments might be removed (but they weren't)

I wasn't aware of the policy

I have had no issues

I have had other challenges (described here):

Question Title

* 16. What do you think should or shouldn't be allowed at the cemetery? Please select yes (allowed) or no (not allowed) for each item.

	Yes	No
Alcohol	Alcohol Yes	Alcohol No
Artificial flowers	Artificial flowers Yes	Artificial flowers No
Battery-operated lights	Battery-operated lights Yes	Battery-operated lights No
Books	Books Yes	Books No
Candles & Incense	Candles & Incense Yes	Candles & Incense No
Dead flowers	Dead flowers Yes	Dead flowers No
Decoration-free zones	Decoration-free zones Yes	Decoration-free zones No
Degradable objects	Degradable objects Yes	Degradable objects No
Dried flower arrangements	Dried flower arrangements Yes	Dried flower arrangements No
Fencing or edging	Fencing or edging Yes	Fencing or edging No
Flower wrapping & rubber bands	Flower wrapping & rubber bands Yes	Flower wrapping & rubber bands No
Glass	Glass Yes	Glass No
Hardened clay	Hardened clay Yes	Hardened clay No
Items hanging in trees	Items hanging in trees Yes	Items hanging in trees No
Items intruding on other graves	Items intruding on other graves Yes	Items intruding on other graves No
Items placed on pathways and garden beds	Items placed on pathways and garden beds Yes	Items placed on pathways and garden beds No
Metal spikes	Metal spikes Yes	Metal spikes No
Offensive items	Offensive items Yes	Offensive items No
Photo frames	Photo frames Yes	Photo frames No
Plastic & LED candles	Plastic & LED candles Yes	Plastic & LED candles No
Sharp-edged objects	Sharp-edged objects Yes	Sharp-edged objects No
Solar lights	Solar lights Yes	Solar lights No
Stones/pebbles	Stones/pebbles Yes	Stones/pebbles No
Teddy bears or soft toys	Teddy bears or soft toys Yes	Teddy bears or soft toys No
Terracotta	Terracotta Yes	Terracotta No
Toys	Toys Yes	Toys No
Wind chimes	Wind chimes Yes	Wind chimes No
Withered/damaged tributes	Withered/damaged tributes Yes	Withered/damaged tributes No

Other items (please specify)

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* 17. If you wish, please tell us why you think these items should or should not be allowed?

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* 18. With regard to staff undertaking "cleanup" duties, do you support any of the following (select one or more):

Removing broken items from graves during day-to-day maintenance

Removing seasonal decorations, such as Christmas, which are still on display months later

Disposing of wilted or dead flowers (not dried arrangements)

Removing unsafe items from graves during day-to-day maintenance

Having one or more special "clean-up "days which are generally advertised

Other (please specify)

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* 19. If you are a person of faith, how does your faith relate to how you wish to personalise the grave?

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* 20. Is there anything else you would like to share or any suggestions you have regarding Remembrance Parks' policies or services?

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* 21. Would you like to learn more about volunteering at a cemetery, or participating in a Friends of the Cemetery group?

Yes - please provide your contact details below

Thank you for sharing your experiences. With the information from this survey and our conversations with the community, we will revise the adornment policy and share the draft document with you for further comment. To enable us to keep in touch, please share your details below.

If you wish your survey to remain anonymous, but would like us to keep in touch, you can email your details separately to ceo@rpcv.org.au

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* 22. Name

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* 23. Email

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* 24. Mobile phone

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* 25. Address

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* 26. How would you prefer to be communicated with regarding cemetery issues or general news? Select one or more.

Phone

Letter

Facebook

Signage at the cemetery

Newspaper Advertisement

Radio advertisement

Other (please specify)

If you wish to provide information on another cemetery, please do the survey again at this link:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/RPCVweb

If you wish to provide information in email format, please email us at ceo@rpcv.org.au