Aaron Bunch Journalist with Australian Associated Press | Collection of published work | + 61 484 008 119 | abunch@aap.com.au

Aaron Bunch
Qld body donors’ graves left derelict

Bronte Bailey poses for a photo at the derelict unmarked grave of her mother at Mt Gravatt Cemetery. Estelle Born’s body was donated to science in 1965 but her family never knew where she was buried. In 2013 they found her eroded grave at the Brisbane cemetery and are now calling for the site, which contains other bodies donated to science, to be restored so they can place a plaque.

A Queensland woman says more respect needs to be shown for bodies donated to science after discovering her mother was buried in a derelict unmarked grave.

November 19, 2018

A Queensland woman who searched for her mother’s remains for more than 40 years before finding them in a derelict unmarked grave says more respect needs to be given to those who donate their bodies to science.

Bronte Bailey was 12 in 1965 when her mother, Estelle Born, 46, died of a brain haemorrhage and was handed over to the University of Queensland’s (UQ) School of Biomedical Sciences.

For 46 years, all Ms Bailey and her two brothers knew was that after two years of use by the university, their mum had been buried but they were never told where.

That was until 2013, when her older brother, Rod Born, now 72, used a genealogy website to locate their mother in the paupers’ section of Mt Gravatt Cemetery, south of Brisbane, where bodies are buried four to a grave.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a worse section of a cemetery. It’s terribly disappointing and to a certain degree distressing,” Ms Bailey, 65, told AAP.

It’s a neglected gravel pit where more than 100 graves are slowly slipping into a garbage-strewn drainage creek, she said.

Few have headstones and those that have been placed are “skew-whiff” due to the erosion.

One cracked plaque on the grave of a former soldier, Raymond Budd, says the father of four “donated his body to science” and “his family found his grave here in 2000”.

“There’s no mention of the contribution these people made to science. These people matter, they matter just as much as anyone else in the cemetery,” Ms Bailey said.

UQ, which no longer uses Mt Gravatt Cemetery, says its body donor program has been running since 1927 and accepts up to 110 people per year.

“(We’re) extremely grateful to body donors and their families,” a spokeswoman said in a statement.

“Donated bodies contribute to research, science and medical teaching, and help to advance medical and scientific knowledge.”

Ms Bailey doesn’t blame the university for the state of her mother’s grave.

She wants the Brisbane City Council, which maintains the cemetery, to repair the area so her family can finally place a plaque for their mother.

However, in a letter sent to Ms Bailey, the council said there could be problems doing this as it’s “not confident” it knows where all the bodies are.

The section has been earmarked for future restoration work, and council is working with UQ to build a memorial for those who donated their bodies.

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