BUNINYONG Cemetery Trust members have honoured two long-serving volunteers with an avenue of fifty pear trees planted at the site.<\/p>\n
The avenue was opened on Friday last week in commemoration of alumni Dawn Whykes, who served for 40 years, and John \u201cJock\u201d McCarty, who served five decades before his death in 1992.<\/p>\n
Ms Whykes was a member from 1980 until last year and said she was surprised to receive the recognition.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis place was covered in blackberries 40 years ago. We did a lot of weeding and gardening and cleaning here,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was all by hand then. It\u2019s very gratifying now. Nearly all of the cemetery is under control compared to how it was when I joined.\u201d<\/p>\n
Both Ms Whykes and Mr McCarty\u2019s families were early settlers in Buninyong, and Mr McCarty, who was a member of the Trust from 1934 to 1985, served as president for three terms.<\/p>\n
His daughter Margaret spoke about her father during the ceremony, and said he\u2019d be honoured to have seen the trees planted in his name.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember coming down here when it was just the old cemetery… covered in blackberries. I\u2019d come down\u2026 and he just hacked away at these blackberries,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cDad was a real hard worker and was well-known and respected in town.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Trust currently has 10 members, and chairman Dr Barry Fitzgerald said the ceremony served a dual purpose.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a recognition of the long service of two of the Trust members. We decided we wanted to do a planting up here to break the open, flat sort of boring area,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s lots of nice trees down in the older section and virtually nothing up here, it\u2019s just concrete.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was just a way of the Trust both putting a project together which we think will improve the cemetery and at the same time recognising these people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Other upcoming projects include the marking of 36 graves and the restoration of the cemetery\u2019s Chinese section.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BUNINYONG Cemetery Trust members have honoured two long-serving volunteers with an avenue of fifty pear trees planted at the site. The avenue was opened on Friday last week in commemoration of alumni Dawn Whykes, who served for 40 years, and John \u201cJock\u201d McCarty, who served five decades before his death in 1992. Ms Whykes was […]<\/p>\n