Cemeteries in decline
Maintenance of Christchurch cemeteries has declined rapidly, with knee-high weeds commonplace among toppled and shattered headstones and crumbled memorials, several Christchurch residents say.
Susan Whitaker said her family had started taking their own lawnmower to the gravesites of her mother, two sisters and brother at the Christchurch City Council-owned Ruru Lawn Cemetery in Bromley after the grounds were left unkempt.
Hundreds of headstones across the city had crashed to the ground in the 2011 earthquake and were yet to be repaired. As each headstone was privately owned and commissioned by families, their upkeep was not the liability of the council, but maintaining the area surrounding the plots was.
‘‘My brother and sister’s grave is forever being covered in sand and we have to dig sand out . . . if it wasn’t for family they will be lost.
‘‘Sadly for those families that cannot maintain graves, they will have a shock at the grounds,’’ Whitaker said.
‘‘Only in the last few years have I seen a rapid decline in upkeep . . . some people don’t have time to maintain a plot, but wouldn’t it be nice to know that the council will keep things tidy for all?’’
Geoff O’Connell said he visited his daughter’s plot at Burnside’s Waimairi Cemetery on the anniversary of her death on Friday and found the site was ‘‘a mess’’.
Grass clippings were ‘‘all over the place’’ and a message to the council on Facebook had been ignored.
‘‘[It’s] definitely got a lot worse . . . this may seem minor to most, but I think it’s just laziness.’’
Sabrina Abdelaal Selim shared those concerns and berated the council after she found her father’s grave site at Memorial Park Cemetery in Bromley was overgrown with weeds and long grass on Saturday.
She said the site looked ‘‘like a dumping ground’’ and she was appalled all the graves in the Muslim section had been so badly neglected.
‘‘It’s just so sad. I’ve never felt so hurt in my life,’’ she said.
Historic Cemeteries Conservation Trust of New Zealand chairman Terry Hearn said he was disappointed by the neglect as ‘‘each community’s history is ultimately recorded in gravestones’’, but some headstones dated back decades so finding a relative willing to fund the restoration was challenging.
‘‘Families, like individuals, tend to have a life span and move on so the family memories fade.’’
Council neighbourhood and sports parks operations manager Al Hardy said staff regularly visited each cemetery to assess their conditions.
Staff investigated the mowing of the Memorial Park burial area and found its maintenance contractor, Recreational Services Ltd, had not delivered to the standard required.
Recreational Services Ltd’s next regular maintenance at Linwood was scheduled to start on Tuesday and would include mowing, weed eating and spraying, he said.
The council administers 22 operating cemeteries and five closed cemeteries in Christchurch and Banks Peninsula.
A full-size burial plot costs $1606.50 and about 600 people a year were buried in Christchurch.