Tasmanian school told to find and exhume graves ahead of planned development over former cemetery

A Tasmanian historical group says allowing a Catholic school to build new facilities over a former cemetery is "an injustice" and could lead to the remains of settlers being dug up.

The Our Lady of Mercy Catholic School in Deloraine, in the state's north, was declared "not a cemetery" last month by the Office of Local Government.

That declaration came even though at least 355 people were buried between 1861 and 1936 on the land now occupied by the school.

The office, which sits within the Department of Premier and Cabinet, also made an identical ruling regarding a former cemetery at Hobart's Guilford Young College, where it is understood many people buried have already been moved.

The ruling means the Catholic Church can apply to develop new facilities, as long as it first makes efforts to find, exhume and relocate human remains.

But Mark Butson and Kerensa Grigson, who are both part of a Deloraine historical group, believe it is hugely disrespectful to the "pioneer Catholics of the parish".

"I think it's particularly disturbing," Mr Butson said.

"As a Christian, my biblical principles are that we're to protect the dead because they can't speak for themselves," Ms Grigson said.

'Condoning bad behaviour'

Tasmania made changes to its cemetery laws in 2018, as the Anglican Church started selling off churches and cemeteries to fund compensation payments to victim-survivors of child sexual abuse.

The law was amended to allow land containing graves to be declared "not a cemetery" if that land had been used for another purpose for at least 50 years.

The new law has only been used once previously, when thousands of human remains were unexpectedly unearthed by a construction company at The Hutchins School in Hobart.

Ms Grigson believed the only reason the Deloraine Catholic Cemetery had been "used for another purpose" was because it had not been properly protected by the church, which removed headstones and allowed the school to expand on top of it.

"It's an injustice," she said.

A spokesperson for the Catholic Archdiocese of Hobart said its records indicated all cemetery headstones were removed in 1949, "to provide for the growing recreational needs of the students". 

They said the then-parish priest decided to instead put up a single memorial to remember all those interred.

Mr Butson and Ms Grigson claimed some headstones were removed more recently, but this has not been verified.

They disagreed with the recent declaration, saying the land should have retained the safeguards that come with being a declared a cemetery.

Worries that remains won't be found

The Office of Local Government has instructed the church to attempt to find and relocate human remains before any development begins at the Deloraine school.

But the precise location of each grave is not known.

The Archdiocese of Hobart said it had already commissioned ground-penetrating radar and scrapings of the site, which provided no evidence of remains within the school's existing footprint.

"Accordingly, while it is not anticipated that the proposed development will disturb any human remains … any human remains unearthed during the excavation works will be carefully managed," the spokesperson said.

But Mr Butson, who said he was a structural design engineer, said ground-penetrating radar was ill suited to Deloraine's clay soils.

He also said the building works were unlikely to require digging at depth, meaning if human remains were not picked up by the survey, they also might not be found during construction.

He feared that meant new buildings would be constructed over remains.

Meander Valley Mayor Wayne Johnston said he was aware of the concern, but also believed many in the school community were keen for upgrades.

"I've heard probably more concerns from parents of children that go to the school that are waiting to have permanent toilets and classrooms built," Councillor Johnston said.

Names to be memorialised

The Office of Local Government told the church to put up a memorial plaque with the names of all people known to have been buried on the grounds, both at Deloraine and at Guilford Young College.

"The Catholic Church continues to acknowledge the site's shared patrimony as a former cemetery … the existing monument will be refurbished to better render the history of the former cemetery and memorialise the buried faithful," an Archdiocese of Hobart spokesperson said.

Mr Butson and Ms Grigson said they would welcome that, believing it would be helpful for people coming to the area researching their family trees.

But they said new construction should not be permitted.

While he was raised Catholic, Mr Butson said he no longer went to church.

"[Due to] how they've handled themselves here, put it this way, I've lost a lot of respect for the Catholic Church," he said.