Family members are raising the alarm over vandalism and allegedly paved over burial sites, as Carnarvon's historic cemetery lost heritage protection.
Residents of a remote West Australian town have launched a last-ditch effort to save its historic cemetery.But the site is now so badly vandalised and neglected it's been stripped of its heritage status.
"My great grandma was the first white woman in Carnarvon. She came up here with sheep overland from York," Ms Seth said.It is estimated more than 1,300 people were buried in the cemetery until its closure in 1980.What remains is a mosaic of the town's history and inhabitants, chronicling its growth from pastoral outpost into what was then one of Australia's biggest wool export ports.
As some Aboriginal people converted to Christianity, they were allocated plots, but the cost of headstones remained a barrier.A new entrance and access road were built at the cemetery in 2001, funded in part by private donations and a state heritage grant.