BOTCHED BURIAL RECORDS AT KIMBERLEY CEMETERY

Trevor Bedford said when he wanted to bury his mother at Halls Creek cemetary, his family discovered someone else had already been buried in the plot they had reserved next to his father. Photo: Trevor Bedford.

GEOFF VIVIAN

Local residents say Halls Creek’s cemetery is a shambles, with some people mistakenly buried in plots reserved for others.

Trevor Bedford, who is a member of a well-known Halls Creek family, said families liked to reserve plots next to each other, but they had not been able to bury his mother in the plot they reserved.

“I don’t know what happened,” said Mr Bedford.

“The Shire went and buried somebody else there in 2018.”

Mr Bedford said proper records had not been kept and plot numbers on the ground had been lost.

Photo: Shire of Halls Creek.

Shire president Malcolm Edwards said the problem was worse in the old part of the cemetery.

“They started to dig a grave up and they came across flowers, so they stopped and realised they were actually digging a grave that was previously there that wasn’t recorded,” Mr Edwards said.

“There’s another time that I think they put a grave in a place they shouldn’t, and someone had their ashes buried there.”

Mr Edwards said the Shire had done what it could to remedy a bad situation.

“The Shire’s gone down there with some of the Elders and tried to record whatever they could, but there are a few graves where they just don’t know who’s buried there,” he said.

“The new cemetery’s obviously all under control and being recorded properly.”

Mr Edwards said the Shire had now decided to restrict the number of cemetery plots each family can reserve to three.

“You can only reserve a grave for 25 years,” he said.

“The problem is people reserving many, many graves. You can go in there and reserve a dozen graves. You start to fill up rows of the cemetery.”