Operation
The cemetery after more than 130 years of operation remains a 100% self funded business. It has never been funded by the public purse or council ratepayers, with individual graves maintained for a fee. Where families no longer wish to maintain their ancestor's graves this has led to some significant memorials (such as those belonging to Jules Archibald and Victor Trumper) falling into disrepair. In 2002, with new plots due to run out in ten years and an ongoing problem with vandalism, the Waverley Council as owners of the business looked for alternative sources of revenue. These included corporate and private sponsorship for grave sites, a proposed crematorium, and the building of a new path to limit access to the cemetery by potential vandals. This sponsorship plan met with limited success, although some graves have been restored with the assistance of sponsors – including Jules Archibald's (by The Bulletin), Lawrence Hargrave's through the Royal Aeronautical Society, and the grave of Henry Lawson which was restored through a $10,000 grant by the State government – this has not secured the future of the business. The plan to incorporate an on-site cremation into the existing business encountered vocal opposition, including by Liberal Party MP Malcolm Turnbull, the Federal Member for Wentworth, who spoke in Federal Parliament against the plan. The community opposition led to the plan being canceled in 2004. Finally, work on a new two million dollar boardwalk designed to move joggers and others passersby away from the graves was approved and was due to begin construction in July 2008.
In late 2007, the National Trust ran an online competition to determine the distribution of $185,000 in funding. Of the nine finalists, the Waverley Cemetery's ceremonial gates proved to be the most popular, winning the majority of the votes. Unfortunately, the amount voted to the project was only a little over 25% of the total restoration costs. The 75% remainder has been left to be funded by the cemetery and is likely to take many years to complete.
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—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)
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