Repairs Made at Albury Cemetery

The Mackenzie District Council has organised the repair of 11 headstones and memorials at Albury Cemetery that were damaged during a wind storm earlier this winter.

Community Facilities Manager Garth Nixon says all the damaged headstones have been repaired and council staff are carrying out a final clean-up of broken trees and debris at the cemetery. The next step will be to replant new trees to replace those damaged by the high winds.

The storm in early July saw winds reach 120kph and was so severe it toppled trees onto the cemetery, breaking some headstones and toppling others. One headstone was badly broken and needed to be replaced, and four have been re-secured to the ground.

Another four tall memorials were knocked over and have been reconstructed and secured with both plaster and epoxy resin. One marble headstone has been laid down and attached horizontally to the grave. The damaged headstones were a mix of both old and recent with the southwest corner of the cemetery the worst affected area.

Mr Nixon says repairs to the headstones cost the council about $7,000 which he hopes to recover from insurance. Tree felling and replanting is likely to cost another $10,000 but this has mainly been recouped from log sales.

The names on the headstones damaged by the storm were: Guthrie, Casey, Gallen, Keeman, Connor x2, Burrough, Winn, Rowland, Scannell, and Sutherland.

ENDS

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