Historic Whangārei cemetery 'littered with rubbish and rats'

Roy Fyfe says Mission Ground Cemetery in Whangarei is neglected and needs regular mowing and rubbish bins installed. Photo / Tania Whyte

Discarded beer bottles and shot glasses, dirty face masks, and grass so long that rats and other vermin have begun to appear.

That was the recent state of one of Mission Ground Cemetery, according to concerned Whangārei resident Roy Fyfe.

Fyfe reckons the cemetery, located at the end of Selwyn Ave, is only mown four times a year, and the grass had recently got "at least half a metre high".

Elderly people were struggling to visit monuments in the burial grounds of Whangārei's founding fathers, he said.

Fyfe wants the council to maintain it better.

"It's an absolute shambles," he said.

"That's our heritage; they were the early settlers of Whangārei and started the city. They deserve better."

The lawns were mowed the day after the Northern Advocate asked Whangārei District Council, which maintains the property, for a response as to why they had grown so lush.

When the grass gets that long the birdlife also disappears, Fyfe said.

Fyfe, who lives nearby, said there is also a need for rubbish bins at the cemetery.

Every fortnight he walks around the site picking up beer bottles and other discarded rubbish.

Fyfe said he has contacted the council several times over the last few months about the state of the cemetery.

"Now we're getting vermin; the rats can come from the creek because the grass is so long and they've got hiding places.

"It's the worst I've seen it.

"I just had a big clean-up and got 10 beer bottles, shot glasses, wine bottles and half a dozen masks.

"I pick it up because I don't want whoever is mowing it hitting bottles, and kids go in there as well.

"I just want some sort of mowing programme. Maybe they could put a rubbish bin in so that people can put their rubbish in there."

Fyfe reckons the grass at the cemetery, located at the end of Selwyn Ave, is now "at least half a metre high". Photo / Tania Whyte

It's not the first time the cemetery has become neglected.

The cemetery was operational as a "public burial ground" some time from 1852 to 1941.

After the Whangārei Borough Council closed the cemetery in 1941, it fell into disrepair.

Headstones were removed and cemented to the concrete strip, only to be later removed and buried at the Kioreroa Cemetery.

Council spokesperson Ann Midson said the lawns are usually mown every two to three weeks.

However, in the past three weeks there has been an "autumn flush which has gone on much longer", causing grass to grow faster, she said.

"Normally by now we'd have had a few cold nights and probably a few low double-figure days, but we haven't had that - we're at 24 degrees, which is a summer temperature."

Adding to the current growth spurt, one of the four staff who maintain the cemeteries has been away during a busy period.

"We've had an unfortunate cluster of situations here, which all conspire to delay our usual mowing of that area.

"We take a lot of pride in the care and maintenance of our cemeteries, both to show respect to those who lie in them and kindness towards those who visit. Usually those visiting take the same approach."

Midson said the mowing would be done by the end of last week.

The council's general approach to rubbish was that people visiting public spaces should take it with them, she said.

"When we do put litter bins in places like this, people misuse them and it causes an even greater problem. So we will be putting up some signs asking people to take their litter with them."