Toowoomba council to release list of damaged graves, headstones at Drayton Cemetery

It could take years for the damage caused to more than 100 headstones and graves at a Qld cemetery could take years to fully repair, according to the council.

The “despicable” destruction done to hundreds of gravesites at Toowoomba’s historic Drayton Cemetery by a trio of young vandals could take years to be repaired.

The Toowoomba Regional Council is preparing to release a list of people whose graves and headstones were damaged during a night of carnage last month.

Damage gravestones at a Toowoomba cemetery. Picture: Facebook

Three teenagers were arrested over the August 10 incident, which caused about $500,000 in damage to graves and plots — some of which were more than 100 years old, and as new as a few days.

Two boys were charged with wilful damage and dealt with under the provisions of the Youth Justice Act, while another was let off with a warning.

While the common areas have been cleaned up and repaired by the Toowoomba Regional Council, the families of individual plots were responsible for paying to fix damage.

Toowoomba mayor Geoff McDonald said many of the sites would be repaired at the expense of family members and loved ones but there were likely to be graves with no living descendants.

“That list (of graves) will become available soon — we’re mindful that there will be some cases where these family members won’t be able to be contacted,” he said.

“If that’s the case, the council would need to figure out a way to rectify that.

“Maybe there’s an opportunity to think more broadly on how we can do this, because what we don’t want is for that damage to stay there for years,” Mr McDonald said.

“We’ve identified all those which have been damaged, and I’m sure those families like to have them rectified as soon as possible.”

Toowoomba Region Mayor Geoff McDonald is disgusted after vandals damage or destroy more than 300 graves at Toowoomba's Drayton Cemetery, Sunday, August 11, 2024. Picture: Kevin Farmer

It comes as Toowoomba North MP Trevor Watts said the LNP would “rewrite” the Youth Justice Act to align punishments for first-time offenders with community expectations, should the party win government later this year.

“We don’t want young people going down this path, but if they do they should meet consequences,” he said.

“We will rewrite the youth justice act and one of the key principles of that is that community standards are met and that people are accountable.

“That will empower the judiciary and the police to take action.

“This was a despicable act, and is completely unacceptable in our community.”