On 13 April 1905 the first cremation took place. It was the cremation of Edward Davies, a retired customs officer. As the planned cremation facility had not yet been constructed, the cremation was held outdoors. The funeral pyre used six tons (6,096 kg) of firewood soaked in kerosene. There is a plaque marking the location within the Matthews Lawn.
 The cremation of Edward Davies – 1905 |
 Plaque commemorating first cremation |
By the time the second cremation occurred, John N. Thomas on 4 May 1906, a temporary crematorium was prepared. It consisted of a ‘kiln-like structure of bricks and mortar’.
 Temporary Cremator - circa 1906 |
 Second Cremation at Springvale Botanical Cemetery John N. Thomas - 1906 |
The first crematorium furnace, a brick enclosure, was completed in 1906. It used 5 tons (5,080 kg) of firewood for each cremation. Over the following years, the preference for cremation increased. During the Great Depression cremation grew in popularity as it was cheaper then burial.
To meet the increase in demand, a new oil fuelled crematorium with adjacent Boyd Chapel was erected in 1936. This was operational until 1991 when the current crematorium was constructed.
Second Crematorium Complex – 1936
The new crematorium opened in 1991 and was deliberately built on a separate part of the site away from the chapel complex. This allowed the older facility to operate until the day the new crematorium was ready for use. In 2001, the current crematorium was refurbished and it now houses five state of the art cremators.
 Inside the current Crematorium – 2005 |
 Crematorium - 2007 |