Deloraine residents angry over digging work at Holy Redeemer Catholic Church and Our Lady of Mercy school

Plans to build on the site of a school playground have hit a hiccup because of its history as a graveyard with some residents saying it should be left undisturbed.

The Holy Redeemer Catholic Chruch at Deloraine. Picture: Supplied.

A group of Deloraine residents are dismayed over the catholic church’s plans to develop on what they believe to be the site of a graveyard.

Holy Redeemer Catholic Church and Our Lady Of Mercy school are on the site of an old graveyard.

In the 1950s, the cemetery was covered with lawns and is now part of the school playground and oval.

Last year, the Catholic Church submitted a development application with the Meander Valley Council to build on the site.

However, the church withdrew its application when it was discovered potential burials were on the site it planned to build.

Digging work taking place Holy Redeemer Catholic Church and Our Lady Of Mercy school at Deloraine. Picture: Supplied.

Mark Butson is a Deloraine local and heads up a group from the town who have been pushing for the site to be left alone.

He said he saw excavators on the site digging over the last few weeks.

“As you can imagine, it’s a fairly strange thing as we have evidence to prove that the entire area was a graveyard,” Mr Butson said.

“We have no axe to grind against the catholic church, but we do have an axe to grind when it comes to digging up graveyards.

“If it was your grandmother or great-grandmother, you wouldn’t want people digging up her grave and putting a building over the top.”

A Catholic Education Tasmania spokesperson said it was aware that an area of the Our Lady Of Mercy school grounds was historically known to be a cemetery.

“Graves were left untended for decades, and some headstones were lost,” the spokesperson said.

“Those salvageable headstones have been reburied on the site of the Holy Redeemer Church.”

Catholic Education Tasmania confirmed it had withdrawn a development application for proposed buildings on the school oval area because there were possibly unidentified burials on the site outside the historical graveyard boundaries.

“Catholic Education Tasmania has since engaged archaeologists using ground penetrating radar (GPR) to search for other burials within subject areas of open ground in the school, including the area adjacent to the Holy Redeemer Church,” the spokesperson said.

“Concluding this, with the appropriate Heritage Tasmania Council approvals, the archaeologist recommended scraping 300-500mm of soil in large areas outside the historical graveyard boundaries.

“It appears not to have revealed any burials or items of any historical interest regarding this archaeological exercise.

“This archaeological work is now complete, and we are awaiting a final report from the consultant team.”