Robert Farquharson has been stripped of his control over the gravestones of the three children he murdered when he drove a car into a dam in 2005, after a Victorian government intervention.
Farquharson is the first convicted person in Victoria to lose the rights over a family member’s gravesite after legislative changes in 2021. It comes almost two decades since he deliberately drove his three children into a dam in south-western Victoria, in an act of revenge against his ex-partner for leaving him.
Despite the horrific crime, Farquharson has owned the gravesite in Winchelsea, and his name followed the inscription “much loved and cherished children of”. His name has now been scratched off the headstone of his three children.
Victorian government frontbencher Harriet Shing on Friday said the government’s reform had enabled families to continue the process of grieving and closure.
“It’s really important that we reflect on the importance of understanding victim impact,” she told reporters.
Stephen Moules, the husband of the boys’ mother Cindy Gambino-Moules, who died in 2022, told the ABC the decision marked a new chapter for the family.
“You know there’s probably numerous families out there that have been fighting the system for 10, 20, 30, 40 years over monsters that killed one of their family members, or numerous family members, that still have rights,” he told the ABC.
“It’s a remarkable feeling to know that you’ve been part of changing history. As ugly as the journey’s been, it’s always the age-old story of out of every bucket of negatives comes positives, and this is a huge positive.”
As first reported by the ABC, the Victorian Department of Health secretary, Euan Wallace this month forced Farquharson to relinquish his rights relating to his children’s graves. It also means that Farquharson cannot use a neighbouring plot for his own burial or memorial.
According to the ABC, Farquharson objected to the decision, but Wallace determined that allowing his rights over the gravesite to remain would result in significant pain and suffering to the children’s family.
A spokesperson for the department said that, in situations where serious criminal offences had occurred, it may “vary or force the surrender of a right of interment”.
“This protects people who have been impacted by the offence, when further significant distress could result from the right of interment being exercised by the current holder,” the spokesperson said.
The changes are due to an amendment to the state’s Cemeteries and Crematoria Act 2003 – passed by parliament in 2021 – that allows the department to remove the rights of convicted murderers and serious criminals to make decisions about their familial victim’s graves or memorials in an effort to protect those impacted by the offence.
Applicants to the department can be made on behalf of people affected by criminal offences and coroner’s findings.
The legislative change was sparked by concerns that Melbourne mother Karen Ristevski’s grave could be controlled by her husband, who killed her. The amendment was backdated to apply retrospectively to all rights of interment bought or transferred from 1 July 2005.
Farquharson’s children Jai, 10, Tyler, 7, and Bailey, 2, died on Father’s Day in 2005. He deliberately drove a car into a dam in Winchelsea, leaving his children to drown as he swam to safety.
He was convicted of the triple murder in 2007 and sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 33 years. His appeals to the court of appeal and high court were rejected in 2012 and 2013.
Prior to her death, Gambino-Moules had spoken publicly about her fears that her ex-partner could be buried alongside her children and herself because he owned the gravesites.
