Elderly widows distressed after tyre marks and dirt piles left behind at Gold Coast cemetery

ELDERLY widows have been left in distress after construction delays have left a Gold Coast cemetery looking like a construction zone.

Maud Cross says it's disrespectful how the Nerang Cemetery site has been left after contractors attempted to pre-dig 10 grave sites. Picture: Maud Cross

MOURNERS have been left distressed to find parts of Nerang Cemetery left looking like a building site when visiting the graves of their loved ones.

Local Maud Cross, 79, was shocked to find large piles of dirt and tyre tracks at the cemetery when she visited the grave of her late husband, Raymond Cross, on Tuesday.

Mrs Cross, who visits the cemetery several times a week, said the mess had left a widower in tears and was “disrespectful.”

An overgrown mound at Nerang Cemetery. Picture: Maud Cross

“There’s great, big piles of earth there,” she said.

“I get so upset when I visit because it had been looking quite good after turfing, then it dried out … When I was there on Tuesday the tractor marks were all over them, plaques had been run over and covered with grotty dirt.”

Just three months ago, families told the Bulletin that a widow’s sons were forced to mow council-run Mudgeeraba Cemetery because the cemetery area was not properly maintained. A grieving mother also had to deal with her son’s burial plot sinking at least 20cm without being grassed over for more than two months.

The tyre tracks left after depositing dirt behind a row of graves. Picture: Maud Cross

Mrs Cross’s husband died in 2015 due to heart failure when he was 74 years old.

They bought a plot at Nerang Cemetery because Mr Cross loved birds and wanted to be buried underneath the trees.

On her recent visit, Mrs Cross took pictures of the offending mounds and tyre tracks and sent them to local councillor Peter Young.

In the photos, a relatively new grave can be seen with a large mound covered in weeds. Tyre marks can also be seen leading to two large mounds next to a fence in another photo.

In reply to Mrs Cross’s concerns, the Community Venues and Services Branch wrote: “We are aware and agree that it is not acceptable.

Maud Cross says the cemetery had just been returfed as well. Picture: Maud Cross

“We have had to dig 10 graves but due, to rock encountered, our program to dig them all has not been successful to the scheduled plan. We managed to get (five) dug and then the contractor had to leave the site for other jobs.

“We have been unable to resource time to get back to the other (five) graves. Our original plan was for the 10 to be done at the same time and then landscapers directly following to clean the sites up.”

They further communicated that grave right holders had been advised the work would be done.

Maud Cross is distressed about the state of the cemetery.

GET FULL DIGITAL ACCESS FOR 50C A DAY

“Due to encountering the rock however, we had to transgress some additional sites not originally accounted for in our communication.”

Cr Young said the delay was “fairly exceptional” and he would look into why the contractor had been allowed to leave without finishing the job.

He said he was satisfied that the problem would soon be remedied.

Mrs Cross said the cemetery had recently been returfed and it didn’t make sense to rip up the new turf up for the graves.

Mrs Cross said she received another reply to her concerns on Thursday, advising her works to clean up the area would not begin until Monday due to rainy weather.