The cemetery is notably the resting place of five Prime Ministers of Australia, more than any other necropolis within Australia. Former Prime Minister Harold Holt's headstone is a memorial, as his remains have never been discovered.
History
Aerial panorama of Melbourne General Cemetery in Carlton, September 2023
The cemetery was established in 1852 and opened on 1 June 1853, and the Old Melbourne Cemetery (on the site of what is now the Queen Victoria Market) was closed the next year.
The grounds feature several heritage buildings, many in bluestone, including a couple of chapels and a number of cast iron pavilions. The gatehouses are particularly notable.
The cemetery contains the war graves of 91 Commonwealth service personnel, more than 30 from World War I and more than 50 from World War II.
Elvis Presley memorial
Tributes for Elvis Presley on the 47th anniversary of his death at the cemetery's memorial on 16 August 2024.
A monument in memory of Elvis Presley was erected in the cemetery by the Elvis Presley Fan Club of Victoria on 26 November 1977, three months after the singer's passing on 16 August of that year. The monument was commissioned by fan club president Wayne Hawthorne, personally approved by Vernon Presley and erected even before the equivalent monument in Presley's hometown of Memphis, Tennessee. It was unveiled by Johnny O'Keefe, just under a year before his own passing on 6 October 1978.
Fan club vigils were initially held at the monument but these were cancelled because of the undue media attention they attracted. One particular incident saw local TV camera crews causing a traffic jam that held up a funeral procession for a recently deceased person. The decision was then made to simply allow fans to visit in their own time. The monument is regularly visited by Presley fans to this day and especially on 16 August, the anniversary of his death.
The monument's original inscription reads "Elvis Aron Presley" although his middle name is often also spelt as "Aaron", including on Presley's actual grave at Graceland. Both spellings were used interchangeably by Presley throughout his lifetime. A fan club dispute led to a second plaque being added with the spelling "Aaron" that also provided more historical context about the monument and mentioned O'Keefe's unveiling in late 1977. However, mistakes were apparently made during the making of the second plaque and "Aaron" was incorrectly written as Presley's given name - "Aaron Elvis Presley" - and O'Keefe's name was written "O"Keefe" with a quotation mark instead of an apostrophe. These errors remained intact until 2026, when a talkback caller brought them to the attention of 774 ABC Melbourne radio presenter Charlie Pickering. Pickering was able to contact Hawthorne and cemetery management and convince them the errors needed to be corrected. A new plaque with the same inscription but reading "Elvis Presley" and "Johnny O'Keefe" was unveiled on 16 August 2026, the 49th anniversary of Presley's death.
