"This is vandalism. It's nothing less than vandalism. That could have been lifted out of there, not broken over. The council has to make that good," Stewart Terras from Newcastle said, pointing at his great great great grandfather's grave in The Bight Cemetery on Tinonee Road on Monday, August 5.
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"It's disgusting. That's been willful damage."
Stewart is, in his words, "very pissed off". He had come up from Newcastle to visit his parents at Barrington. While there his brother showed him the post on Wingham Chronicle's Facebook page of the Letter to the Editor which likened the cemetery to looking like a war zone, after MidCoast Council removed and laid down gravestones they deemed as being a risk to the public.
His 85-year-old mother in tears at the thought of her family's graves being damaged, Stewart made the trip from Barrington to Wingham specifically to check on the family graves. What he found was distressing. Generations of his family, dating back from the first arrivals from Scotland, are buried in the cemetery, and quite a few of the gravestones were removed by council, his great great great grandfather, Donald Stewart's grave broken in two. From the looks of it, Stewart said, it had been forceably pushed and broken off its plinth by machinery.
Stewart was not the only out-of-towner at the cemetery on Monday to check on family graves. Robyn Gilmore, from Cullen Bullen near Lithgow, was travelling home from Kempsey and made a detour specifically to check on the graves of two close family friends. Her's was a different story - the graves were untouched and she was relieved.
It's just heartbreaking. There are even tyre tracks over the top of a grave.
- Lee Oberg
The cemetery was a hive of activity on Monday, with people coming and going. Some had come to check on relatives' graves, as they had heard the news and were worried their own family graves had been impacted. A couple of others were there to take inventory of how many and which graves were affected.
Lee Oberg and her five-year-old daughter, Gemma, who live behind the cemetery, were there offering visitors tea, coffee and chocolate biscuits. They came equipped because Lee thought there would be a lot of people visiting and it would be a stressful time for them.
"It's just heartbreaking. There are even tyre tracks over the top of a grave," Lee said.
Council confirmed that a crane had been in the cemetery to remove some of the larger monuments.
"In manoeuvring a vehicle around the cemetery it appears that it has encroached on the edge of a grave. This isn't acceptable and we apologise," MidCoast Council's Paul De Szell said.
MidCoast Council has suspended its 'momument risk assessment program' due to the public outrage over what some are calling desecration and others are calling vandalism to The Bight Cemetery, which was the first, and as a result of the suspension, only cemetery where the program was implemented.
The intent of the program is to protect the public and while we remain committed to this outcome, we have got the implementation of this program horribly wrong.
- Paul De Szell, MidCoast Council
A total of 59 gravestones were removed, according to council. Of that amount council confirmed "that approximately 47" will be restored as quickly as possible and at their cost.
"The intent of the program is to protect the public and while we remain committed to this outcome, we have got the implementation of this program horribly wrong," council's Paul De Szell said.
The Bight Cemetery is heritage listed and council says it did speak to the Heritage Reference Group prior to starting work.
"When we presented the program to the reference group we discussed the original intent of the program - however it is in the practical implementation of the program that things have gone wrong. This is a concern both to us and to the reference group," Mr De Szell said.
Council indicated that while the heritage status of the cemetery does not place any restrictions on its management of the area, the review of the monument risk assessment program will take into account the National Trust Guidelines for Cemetery Conservation and other conservation advice.
MidCoast Council does not currently have a cemeteries policy and council says "it is currently being worked on."
Community meeting
A community meeting is being held at the Wingham Bowling Club on Sunday, August 11 from 2pm. All community members are invited to attend, in particular anyone who has family buried at The Bight Cemetery. Council's Mr De Szell and Dan Aldridge will attend to address community concerns.
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Julia Driscoll
Julia Driscoll has worked as a journalist for the Wingham Chronicle and Manning River Times for seven years. She values the deep connection with community that being a rural and regional journalist brings. Career highlights have involved environmental stories - bringing the plight of the little known endangered Manning River helmeted turtle to the attention of the public, resulting in wide-spread knowledge in the community and conservation action; and breaking the news of the Manning River ceasing to run for the first time in recorded history.
Julia Driscoll has worked as a journalist for the Wingham Chronicle and Manning River Times for seven years. She values the deep connection with community that being a rural and regional journalist brings. Career highlights have involved environmental stories - bringing the plight of the little known endangered Manning River helmeted turtle to the attention of the public, resulting in wide-spread knowledge in the community and conservation action; and breaking the news of the Manning River ceasing to run for the first time in recorded history.
