Building Harkness Memorial Park: Faith and Belonging
Altaf (Ali) Mohammed, Muslim community leader and local resident.
For Muslim community member Altaf (Ali) Mohammed, the invitation to help shape Harkness Memorial Park addressed a real gap.
“My community members, the Muslim community in Melton, we’re lacking a space for memorials,” he says.
In the eighth video of our Building Harkness Memorial Park series, Ali shares how faith communities have worked together to create a memorial park where everyone can find belonging – and how focusing on what we share, rather than what divides us, has shaped the result.
A shared need
Ali was invited to participate in Harkness Memorial Park’s development alongside other faith community representatives.
“I received the invitation about the project GMCT is conducting relating to the new cemetery that’s going to be Harkness. And, I was quite excited,” he says.
His excitement came from recognising an opportunity – not just for his own community, but for all faith communities in the City of Melton facing the same challenge of limited local memorial options.
This need isn’t unique to one community. As Melbourne’s west has grown, families from diverse faith backgrounds have faced travelling long distances for memorial services or finding limited options that reflect their traditions and practices.
Commonalities, not differences
What stands out in Ali’s experience of the consultation process is how different faith communities and diverse groups across Melbourne worked together to create a shared outcome.
“From the start, there was basically a common thing with the respect for other human beings,” he reflects. “More concentrating on the commonalities that we possess, rather than differences.”
This approach has directly shaped Harkness Memorial Park’s design. Rather than creating separate, isolated spaces for different communities, the focus has been on shared values - respect, dignity, and the need to honour loved ones in meaningful ways.
“Collaboratively, we have provided our needs, and that would be inclusive of other faiths as well,” says Ali. “That the resting place for all of us, be a place for all the communities living in Melton.”
Belonging for everyone
At its heart, Harkness Memorial Park is about creating a place where everyone can feel they belong.
“It makes the community feel they belong, irrespective of whichever faith people believe in,” Ali explains.
This sense of belonging comes from genuine consultation and design that responds to real community needs. In the first stage, the park will offer memorial options that respect Islamic tradition, alongside spaces designed for Christian and other faith communities. As the park evolves through future stages, new inclusive facilities, offerings and services will be explored through community consultation.
GMCT’s vision is that the park will reflect the rich diversity of Melbourne’s west – a shared space where different faiths can be celebrated and remembered side by side with mutual respect and dignity.
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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.