Picture: Gene Ramirez
WEEDS have inundated St John's Cemetery in Parramatta making it difficult for visitors to enter the site.
Parramatta and District Historical Society president Trevor Patrick said the graveyard, behind a convict-built wall opposite Westfield Parramatta in O'Connell Street, had been neglected, with overgrown noxious weeds, including blackberry and lantana, inundating the premises.
"It is an appalling disgrace that the civic leaders of Parramatta have let this happen right under their gaze," he said. "Just because it's behind a brick wall built by convicts, it's no excuse to ignore our heritage. It's a total lack of civic pride and I call on men and women of all faiths to roll up their sleeves and come to this historic cemetery as soon as possible and help tidy it up."
Historian and Parramatta and District Historical Society member Audrey Meisenhelter (pictured with daughter Linda) agreed.
"My ancestors are in there along with so many other important people," she said.
"It's sad to know they're under all those weeds."
But a St John's Cemetery Trust spokeswoman, Julie Apps, said the cemetery had not been neglected, even though it hadn't been mowed since December.
"The Department of Corrective Services told us that periodic detention had changed, so this community work was no longer taking place," Ms Apps said. "We will be holding a working bee on Saturday, April 28, which will involve volunteers mowing the grass and cleaning up the site. We urge members of the community to join us by bringing their lawn mowers and whipper-snippers and meeting us at the cemetery at 9am."