Rookwood Cemetery: Mother Vanessa Weir upset over removal of flowers in children’s section

A heartbroken mother has questioned why Australia’s largest cemetery has banned grieving families from adorning their children’s graves and stripped them bare of tributes.

A mother has labelled a move by Rookwood Cemetery in Sydney’s west to ban grieving families adorning their children’s graves with floral tributes and toys as “cruel”, after she was shocked to find her daughter’s gravesite bare.

Central Coast woman Vanessa Weir visited the grave of her stillborn daughter Lucy at Rookwood on January 1 when she placed artificial pink flowers and rose petals atop the gravestone of her baby who died on March 16, 2003.

But when her daughter Charlotte returned on Saturday, she found a bare cement square and empty vases in the St Gerard Majella lawn children’s section for the sister she never met.

Charlotte, 18, discovered a notice that graves could no longer be decorated with certain items after a scheduled cleaning.

Structures, ornaments, frames, fencing, gardens, statues, picture frames, plants, flower pots are banned from the site.

The gravesite of Lucy Weir at Rookwood Cemetery. Picture: Facebook

Soon after it was bare. Picture: Facebook

The wounds for Ms Weir, of Berkeley Vale, deepened when flowers for baby Lucy were removed.

Staff stated the items were not permitted on the lawn garden areas of gravesites because they posed access, maintenance, safety and liability issues for visitors and staff.

Ms Weir slammed Rookwood as a “disgrace” over its failure to properly warn families.

“To just collect and toss aside all the babies and children’s personal items to the side like a tip is the biggest insult and insensitivity to parents and families of loved ones,’’ she said.

Ms Weir said children’s tributes had only been cleared twice in the past 22 years, and questioned the consistency around the cemetery’s rules.

“Rules are rules, I guess, but my argument is why is it not enforced? I think it’s cruel,” she said.

“I can’t bare the thought that it’s bare.

“I don’t even know how they could be proud of that. Even if it wasn’t a children’s cemetery they made it look like an old part of the cemetery. Like no one uses it. It looks terrible.’’

Ms Weir was concerned it would be worse for families whose children were only buried recently, only for them to discover their mementos had been removed.

She also regularly visits the cemetery to pay respects to her husband who died in 2015 but said the rules did not apply for the adult section.

A spokesman for Catholic Cemeteries Crematoria, which manages that section of the cemetery, said staff gained no satisfaction from the “extremely sensitive” task but “ornaments need to be removed at some point”.

“It is an unfortunate task, but one that needs to be performed,’’ he said.

He said the recent clean up at St Gerard Majella Lawn section was part of its scheduled maintenance activities to remove potential risks to staff and visitors.

The children’s lawn was looking barren after items were removed. Picture: Facebook

“Given the significant storm activity the preceding week, numerous items had been scattered across the area, making it impossible to return them precisely to their original locations,’’ he said.

“As per our guidelines, removed items are temporarily relocated and stored, allowing families the opportunity to collect them.’’

The spokesman said the crematoria aimed to provide families with reasonable notice before clean-up activities and “clear signage” displayed on January 13 requested they remove items by February 3 ahead of staff clearing them from the lawn on February 14.

“Unfortunately, we do not have the capacity to notify every family individually via email or other direct communication,’’ he said.

“However, families are always welcome to retrieve personal items within the designated time frame before clean-ups occur.

“The removal of items is carried out with sensitivity, and we continue to refine our processes to balance cemetery upkeep with the needs of grieving families.

“We deeply sympathise with families who were affected by the recent clean-up.’’

Originally published as Rookwood Cemetery: Mother Vanessa Weir upset over removal of flowers in children’s section