Mortuary Train Funeral Notices (1904)
Timeline
Feb 7, 1904: the Springvale Cemetery Line Opened.
Mar 16, 1904: the first mortuary train funeral notice was published.
Apr, 1904: Springvale Necropolis ran 5 ads for the mortuary train service in the funeral notice section of The Age. [1]
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In 1904:
There were 16 advertised funerals mentioning a suburban mortuary train. [2]
All Melbourne suburban mortuary trains were serving Springvale Necropolis.
They departed from Princes Bridge also called Mortuary Station (A station that no longer exists, that was between Flinders Street and Richmond) at 2:10pm.
Some funeral notices mentioned the departure time at Hawksburn Station (3 stops away), which was between 2:15pm and 2:20pm.
One funeral notice stated "stopping at all stations".
Two funeral notices were posted by freemasons.
75% of the funerals were for men [3].
Over 50% of the funerals were in November and December.
