Graves project to extend reach

IT is hoped a unique Tasmanian initiative to recognise the final resting places of every World War I veteran will eventually be rolled out interstate.

Up to 500 veterans are believed to be in unmarked graves across 22 cemeteries in Tasmania alone and the Headstone Project has been working for over three years to recognise the men buried.

Retiring Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove yesterday visited Launceston’s Carr Villa Memorial Park, where a team of jobseekers has started constructing headstones for veterans’ graves.

Headstone Project vicechairman Marcus Allan said most of the 70 unmarked graves at Carr Villa were still to be completed.

“And from that, we go off into small cemeteries around the state,” he said. “Our challenge is deal with the fact that this is a national issue.”

General Cosgrove said the project gave value to veterans’ service and paid particular tribute to Aboriginal servicemen whose resting places were finally recognised.

“A very large number of them snuck their way into the military, took themselves off to water, came back and then their lives lapsed back to what the protocols of treatment were like before,” he said.

“That’s part of our burden, part of our debt. I’m so proud of what the Headstone Project is doing.”

One of the graves at Carr Villa belongs to Private James Henry Paul Maynard, whose great-grandson is currently serving in the military.

“We know there are families out there who don’t know where their relatives are buried; if we go some way towards fixing that problem, then our project has been worthwhile,” Mr Allan said.

The Federal Government has a program to recognise veterans’ unmarked graves across the country.