A SUCCESSFUL Rotary Club of Kerang working bee brought out some 30 volunteers to maintain the historic baby section of the cemetery.
The section is an ongoing Rotary Club project and the subject of regular working bees, and this time the group put the call out on their Facebook page.
“We said we would welcome any members of the public that would help, and because of the attention that’s been on the cemetery recently a lot of members of the public came to assist,” Rotary Club of Kerang member Ron Kelly said.
“We got a lot done and went beyond that section, covering an area of about 50 metres squared in about an hour and a half.”
The baby section is an echo from the era where stillborn babies would be buried without headstones.
The families of those buried in that section were responsible for the upkeep, but with some of the graves now 150-170 years old the Rotary Club has adopted the responsibility.
Mr Kelly said that the positive response from the community has encouraged a new collaboration between the club and the Cemetery Trust which is responsible for the lion’s share of the cemetery maintenance.
“A lot of kids came along and helped their parents, and it was good to see them so enthusiastic to get involved,” he said.
“Guys with their whipper snippers went beyond the area and the amount of work that got done in only hour and a half at most was amazing.
“Two or three more of those, the whole memorial area would be tidied up and weeds removed.
“It’s doable without a huge amount of effort with more people.
“I think our volunteers are keen to do it again, so let’s hope the Cemetery Trust can get more of a response when they ask for a working bee.”
Mr Kelly said the Rotary Club of Kerang would share the next Cemetery Trust working bee on their Facebook page, continuing a long tradition of collaboration between the two groups.
“The power of social media is a big thing these days, and we hope the leverage we’ve got will get those same people and more,” he said.
“It’s a good strategy going forward to get more community involvement, and it’s up to the community to get behind the effort.”
