Fury after gardens hit by vandals
A NORTH Queensland mayor is furious after thieves caused up to $30,000 in damage to a botanical gardens named in honour of an Australian war hero.
Hinchinbrook Mayor Ramon Jayo said more than 40 freshly planted plants, ferns, shrubs and trees had been ripped out and stolen from the Keith Payne VC Ingham Botanical Gardens in recent days.
“Council staff and gardeners in particular have been planting new plants, ferns and shrubs to revitalise the area and someone’s taken it upon themselves to pull out and steal all the plantings in the area,” he said.
He said the damage was still being assessed but initial estimates were looking at “$20,000 to $30,000 damage”.
“These are crimes against our community, they’re just not interfering with our en
joyment of the assets by the community but it’s costing the community a significant amount of money to repair.”
Cr Jayo said the Hinchinbrook Shire Council had been re-beautifying the gardens after it was cleared of thousands of flying-foxes which had taken up roost in a clump of historic trees.
The Botanical Gardens are also home to the Ingham War Memorial and the Alpini Monument that honours the service of the elite Italian
Alpini Corps that fought German and Austrian forces in WWI.
In addition to the destruction at the Botanic Gardens, Cr Jayo said vandals had also targeted the new Adventure Playground at Tyto and the wildly popular Rotary Park Playground on the Bruce Highway in the Ingham CBD late last week.
He said vandals had attempted to set fire to the soft flooring which is important for the safety of children using the new play equipment.
It is not the first time the Rotary Park Playground has been targeted by vandals.
But Cr Jayo said he could not understand their motivations.
“Somebody’s got to know something and we need to bring them to account so I am asking anyone with any knowledge whatsoever to come forward.”
He urged anyone with information to contact Ingham Police.