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The Southland Times‘

No respect for the dead?

My Wife and I love Southland.

We live in Waipu in Northland and recently completed a 10 day trip, from Mosgiel, Gore, Wyndham, McNabb, Invercargill, Riverton, the Catlins etc.

Our visit, mainly, was to visit a number of graveyards and pay our respects to family members who had passed on and especially those who had served their country in WWI.

I am a descendant of settlers King and Waters families who came to New Zealand in the 1800s from the UK and were instrumental in clearing the land as farmers in many Southland areas. My father was born in Wyndham and my Grandmother was born in Woodlands and we wanted to visit the places where they lived and died.

Imagine our concern while visiting these cemeteries such as Riverton, Eastern, Woodlands, St Johns etc to find many headstones smashed beyond repair or in some cases missing any identification altogether.

We were also shocked at the appalling state of many cemeteries where rabbits have dug burrows, not just in grassed areas, but in the graves themselves.

We could not believe the destruction the rabbits have caused and after enquiring what the councils are doing to rectify the situation, were advised that they didn’t want to lay bait (too dangerous), didn’t want any shooting (might cause alarm) etc.

Doesn’t anybody in Southland care about this situation?

Do you have no respect for those settlers who helped make Southland the fine province it is today? Is there no respect for the dead? This shameful state of affairs needs some explanation surely?

I wager that if the rabbits invaded a local golf course, sports field or sacred Maori ‘‘urupa’’ action would be taken immediately.

My Celtic genealogy reveres the dead and treasures their memory and in fact, here in Waipu, we promote our heritage, culture and traditions every day.

This shameful situation needs some immediate action in my opinion. I am extremely disappointed to have viewed this deplorable panorama. Shame. Brian O’Brien Waipu Southland District Council group manager services and assets Ian Marshall replies:

Thank you for drawing this to my attention.

The letter writer legitimately raises the issue of rabbit problems in some of the cemeteries they visited.

It is not clear from the pictures provided which cemeteries have this problem.

We will investigate this to see what can be done.

We generally receive good feedback about the maintenance of the many cemeteries in the Southland District and we are happy with the level of maintenance provided by our contractors.

Two of the cemeteries the writer mentions are in fact inside the Invercargill city boundary, and not under Southland District Council control.

Unfortunately, however, the issue of damaged or decayed headstones is also outside our control, as Council does not own the headstones.

They are privately owned by the families of the deceased, many of whom will have moved on long ago.