Building Harkness Memorial Park: A Place for Life
Karen Brady walking through a recreational park in the City of Melton.
What if we could change how we think about memorial spaces? What if, instead of places we visit only in times of grief, cemeteries became spaces where communities gather, reflect, and celebrate life every day?
For independent funeral celebrant Karen Brady, this way of thinking is not only possible but essential. In the fourth video of our Building Harkness Memorial Park series, she shares her vision for how memorial parks can serve growing communities in ways that honour both remembrance and daily life.
Challenging our relationship with death and remembrance
“I think that we’re in, particularly Western culture, in a death-denying view of the world,” reflects Karen Brady.
“But the more that we educate ourselves about it, I think, the less frightened we would become of the whole concept of it.”
It’s this kind of thinking that Harkness Memorial Park embraces.
Through her work as a funeral celebrant, Karen has seen firsthand how our cultural discomfort with death limits our relationship with the spaces designed to honour it.
“People have preconceived ideas that cemeteries are just about grief, and death, and loss,” she explains. But what if that didn’t have to be the case?
“We could then view cemeteries with a completely different outlook,” Karen suggests. Memorial parks can be seen as integral parts of community life rather than places set apart from it.
Reclaiming historic connections to memorial spaces
This idea for memorial spaces isn’t new. Historically, cemeteries served broader community functions - hosting picnics, social gatherings, and providing green space in growing cities. Harkness Memorial Park represents an opportunity to reclaim this tradition while meeting the needs of modern Melbourne.
“As Harkness is developed into more of a community space, it could become a space to, potentially, have a picnic with the family, go for a jog, walk the dog, or just go to sit and reflect in a beautiful environment,” Karen explains.
This vision has been hugely influential in shaping Harkness Memorial Park’s design. Rather than creating a space separate from daily life, the park is being designed as a place where remembrance and community life naturally intersect.
A space for diverse community connections
For Karen, the thinking extends beyond individual activities. She’s excited about the park’s potential as a gathering place for Melbourne’s diverse communities.
“It could also be, potentially, a space to hold community events, cultural events, where different cultures come together and meet,” she reflects.
This multicultural vision resonates with Harkness Memorial Park’s commitment to inclusivity. The park is being designed to welcome families from all backgrounds, creating spaces where different traditions can be honoured while fostering broader understanding and connection.
For communities across Melbourne’s west, this represents something truly unique: a memorial park designed not just to serve individual families, but to strengthen the social fabric of the entire region.
Wellbeing through connection to place
At the heart of Karen’s vision lies an important insight: our emotional connection to memorial spaces directly impacts our wellbeing and quality of life.
“That’s why I’m excited about Harkness, in terms of how it can help us to live our life to the fullest from day to day,” she explains.
By creating a space that celebrates both memory and daily life, Harkness Memorial Park can help communities develop healthier, more integrated relationships with remembrance and grief.
Rather than visiting memorial spaces only in times of loss, families can build ongoing connections to place that support their wellbeing. Walking in beautiful landscapes, gathering with friends, participating in community events, and finding quiet moments of reflection all contribute to emotional health and a stronger sense of belonging within the community.
A model for the future
Karen’s insights reveal why Harkness Memorial Park’s impact extends beyond its immediate community. As Victoria’s largest new cemetery development in over a century, the park has the potential to influence how memorial spaces are created across Australia.
By demonstrating that memorial parks can serve multiple community functions while maintaining their sacred purpose, Harkness Memorial Park offers a model for sustainable, community-centred design that other cities can follow, and build upon.
The park’s value will be measured not just in the families it serves during times of loss, but in its ability to enrich daily life for the growing communities of Melbourne’s west.
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Harkness Memorial Park is redefining what a cemetery can be. As the Greater Metropolitan Cemeteries Trust’s (GMCT) first greenfield development, this landmark project will serve communities for generations to come.
Through a nine-part video series, titled Building Harkness Memorial Park, we’re taking you behind the scenes of Victoria’s largest new cemetery in the last century. Meet the people shaping this innovative space as we explore the vision, design, and community central to the park’s development.
Keep up to date with the project
The first stage of Harkness Memorial Park is expected to open in early 2027.
Keep up to date with our progress by subscribing for project updates or exploring our development timeline.
Join Karen Brady at our upcoming event ‘Leaves & Threads’
Karen is passionate about building death literacy through inclusive, story-rich spaces.
Join her, researcher Dr Chetan Shastri, and GMCT for a creative afternoon of conversation about life, death and legacy. Together, we’ll explore life’s biggest questions through hands on activities and intergenerational discussion.