A life in final goodbyes: the unique world of a regional gravedigger

The former combat engineer in the Australian Army and carpet layer has been digging graves in the Bega Valley for decades, spending most of his days in the quiet company of the dead.

For Mr Jennings, it started after he asked a simple question of funeral director John Whyman.

"I said to John, 'I wouldn't mind digging a grave, just to say I've done it'," Mr Jennings told Bega District News.

"So, I started digging, thinking that one or two was going to be enough to quell my interest back in 1995, and the phone never stopped ringing from then on."

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Mr Jennings said he knew all the ins and outs and pros and cons of every cemetery in the shire.

"When you take the surface off with an excavator, you see the different coloured soils and you can see a rectangle of different coloured material," he said.

"Cobargo and Quaama cemeteries each have 200 unmarked graves in them due to the 1952 bushfire as all the wooden headstones were burnt out.

"So they now have question marks over where you can bury people."

This expertise made Mr Jennings a vital resource for the community.

"We've been called several times to work with archaeologists," he said.

"Especially with Bega High School when they were building a new gymnasium.

"We were to make sure it wasn't built on top of graves.

"Back when the cemetery moved from the school site, families could opt to have their headstones moved at no cost or paid to have the bodies moved.

"So there are headstones at the current Bega Cemetery without bodies, and 900 people buried under the school."

There was a specific kind of stillness in the graveyard at the break of dawn, and, for Mr Jennings, that was when the most important work began.

Mr Jennings said the work was a "great privilege" and an "absolute honour," regardless of the conditions in which he worked.

"Funerals don't get cancelled because of a storm," he said.

"So we're here in the pouring rain, in very bad conditions, harsh conditions and we dig graves. We always dig them on the day."

Before the first break of soil, fellow gravedigger Andy Stokes carried the plan for the day literally on his skin.

Scribbled in black marker on the side of his hand were the dimensions "2005 by 600" millimetres.

With a long-handled spade, marked every foot with a blue line, the pair could measure the depth with ease to ensure it fits within current health regulations.

NSW Health required the depth of a grave to be no less than 90cm above the lid of the coffin.

So, the two gravediggers aimed at digging holes around 150cm (or five feet) deep in the monumental cemetery and 210cm deep in a lawn cemetery.

With immense precision, the excavator broke the cemetery soil made from "decomposed granite".

A comforting calmness settled over the pair of gravediggers, born not just from the early hours of the graveyard shift, but from the "great privilege" associated with preparing someone's final resting place.

"Every grave's different. It's not just digging a hole. You make it neat and tidy so families have a reasonable place to say goodbye to their loved ones," Mr Jennings said.

The shire's long-serving gravedigger suggested burial practices should adapt.

Mr Jennings suggested the tradition of "being buried exactly where one lived" may need to end in favour of a "central cemetery".

He proposed that the open field at the front of Bega Cemetery be converted into a lawn cemetery.

This would reduce mounting maintenance issues associated with traditional graveyards, he said.

"It's a lot safer to work in a lawn cemetery than around monuments," Mr Jennings said.

"Some of the cemeteries do have a lot of land, but people want to be buried where they live.

"I really think that's going to have to change down the track to a central cemetery or something like that."

While Mr Jennings spent his days facilitating the final goodbyes of the Far South Coast's recently departed, he had clear intentions for his own funeral.

He remained a staunch advocate for traditional burial over cremation, a stance rooted in both his daily observations in the funeral industry and a worry about fire.

"I want to be buried at Wolumla Cemetery. It has good soil and has direct views to Mumbulla Mountain," Mr Jennings said.

"Hell no do I want to be cremated - I always had a fear of being burnt."

He believed that ashes can often become a "possession" that complicated the mourning process, whereas a physical grave provided a grounded point of connection.

"With a burial you grieve the death and grieve at the funeral," Mr Jennings explained.

"While with cremation, you grieve the death, grieve the funeral, grieve collecting the ashes and grieve departing with the ashes.

"I feel that when you're buried, you're there, and family can come and visit and you'll be exactly where you were placed."

Support is available for those who may be distressed. Phone Lifeline 13 11 14; Kids Helpline 1800 551 800; beyondblue 1300 224 636.