THREE dedicated volunteers are selflessly restoring Penola’s historical headstones at the town’s old cemetery after ongoing vandlism attattacks.
Over the last four months volunteers Ken Bowden, Chris Clark and Graham Smith decided to take the task on themselves to fix the headstones, working each Sunday morning in their spare time.
“As only the ground is owned by Wattle Range Council, the repair of the graves themselves is the families’ responsibility,” Mr Bowden said.
“However, some of the families are no longer around to ensure their loved ones’ memories are respected.”
Restoration has included filling sites up with stones and gluing and screwing in metal angles to secure broken headstones.
The men have restored around a dozen headstones with glue provided by council and rock and earth moving donated by Gambier Earth Movers.
“We are just trying to tidy as many as we can,” Mr Bowden said.
The trio recently received a $200 donation from Wattle Range Council for the work and has received various donations from the community.
They said the main reason for getting together and fixing the graves was the response they received from families of the deceased.
“We love seeing the big smiles on people’s faces who are happy that we have made the effort,” Mr Bowden said.
“We are also looking at steam cleaning headstones to brightening them up.”
Peter Balnaves has assisted the upkeep of the site by adding a water line connected to his vineyard to help with watering trees planted by Mr Bowden and his mother Evelynne.
“Many tourists come to visit scenic Coonawarra, so we also want to ensure the cemetery is not an eyesore,” Mr Bowden said.
“We are not going around pointing fingers, but someone needed to get involved and we get enjoyment out of restoring them and making people happy.”
Mr Bowden said it was fantastic to look back at the finished product and he appreciated any help from the community.
“Anyone can donate and if they like people can drop funds at the visitor information centre,” Mr Bowden said.
