St Mary of the Cross Mausoleum

The Saint Mary of the Cross Mausoleum in Melbourne General Cemetery is designed for the Italian Community of Melbourne.

This project is the second mausoleum on this site designed by Harmer Architecture, and is directly opposite the earlier Gatehouse Mausoleum immediately behind the main cemetery entrance in College Crescent.

The mausoleum is the first in Australia to combine above and belowground crypts.

The roofed space in front of the lift entrance is designed as a gathering space and as a place of committal for the coffin to depart into the lift for final interment below.

The centerpiece of the gathering area, the bronze sculpture of St Mary McKillop, designed by Julie Squires, expresses St Mary’s life as a teacher and provides a potent symbol of a devoted spiritual life to which Italian Catholics are emotionally connected.

The Italian community of Melbourne, many of whom live close by in Carlton, Fitzroy and Brunswick, have enthusiastically endorsed both stages of this mausoleum development.

Images by Trevor Mein