Councils Spend Hundreds of Thousands Protecting Cemeteries
The paper added Manly Council spent $120,000 on similar security, while St Peter’s cemetery at Campbelltown, had $44,000 spent.
It is not known whether the cemeteries have closed-circuit television (CCTV) capabilities, which may help track a vandal’s identity, or transport, around surrounding streets.
Local Government Association president Genia McCaffery said the fact cemeteries are unsupervised, makes them a target for vandals. “Generally people don’t want to live near them, so they don’t have passive surveillance.”
Illawarra Historical Society president Carol Herben sait at one attack at the Wollongong Cemetery, 100 graves dating back to the 1800s were destroyed with vandals using “vases as missiles, chipping monuments.”
“First, the council lit it up, it didn’t deter vandalism, then police patrolled it but that didn’t stop them,” she said.
“The attack went undetected while 25 per cent of the graves were damaged, And they were never caught”.
“It’s only a certain age group – and a moment of mental instability – who would consider [doing] it,” Armidale and District Historical Society president Judy Grieve said.
Though a fund to set up to pay for the $500,000 damage bills, Ms Grieve told the paper much of the damage could not be repaired because it was old.
