National Trust Guidelines for Cemetery Conservation

6 CONSERVATION ISSUES: PLANNING

6.1 INTRODUCTION

In any cemetery conservation or maintenance program the National Trust recommends that all features of the cemetery, both cultural and natural, must be taken into consideration.

The Trust has adopted the Burra Charter and advocates its principles, all of which apply to the conservation of cemeteries (see especially Burra Charter Articles 2?13, 26).

Two of the most basic concepts should always be observed:

Do as little as possible, but as much as necessary.
Wherever possible, treatments should be reversible.

6.2 THREE BASIC STEPS

The first stage of any conservation work is to decide why the work should be done, what is to be done (or what the problem might be), and how this work should be done. For cemeteries, as for other places, there are three main steps to managing and conserving heritage significance.

1. It is first necessary to understand significance (why conserve it? why is it significant or important?);

2. then develop policy, (what's the problem? what's to be done?); and

3. finally implement management processes of a place in accordance with the policy (how is it to be done?).

This is stressed by both the Burra Charter and the Australian Natural Heritage Charter and is equally relevant to major and minor works. There has been a lot of damage done in cemeteries where these points were not first agreed upon and written down!

6.3 CONSERVATION POLICY

The heritage significance of a cemetery or grave site should be identified at an early stage so that it can be properly considered in the conservation policy. A statement of significance may be available from a local heritage study or other previously written document.

The National Trust strongly recommends that significant work on a place of heritage value must be preceded by a professionally prepared study or conservation policy, and this applies to any work at all on sites that are highly significant or fragile.

No work other than essential maintenance should be undertaken until an informed decision about the Conservation Policy for the cemetery has been made.

This process need not be too laborious, but the result must be precise. In order to distinguish between objectives, these definitions from Article 1 of the Burra Charter may be useful:

PLACE means site, area, land, landscape, building or other work, group of buildings or other works, and may include components, contents, spaces and views.

PRESERVATION means maintaining the fabric of a PLACE in its existing state and retarding deterioration.

RESTORATION means returning the existing fabric of a PLACE to a known earlier state by removing accretions or by reassembling existing components without the introduction of new material.

RECONSTRUCTION means returning a PLACE to a known earlier state and is distinguished from RESTORATION by the introduction of new material into the fabric.

ADAPTATION means modifying a PLACE to suit the existing USE or a proposed use.

USE means the functions of a place, as well as the activities and practices that may occur at the place.

The most appropriate conservation procedure for cemeteries is nearly always Preservation. Occasionally restoration, and more rarely reconstruction or adaptation, may be appropriate in particular circumstances.

6.4 CONSERVATION PLANS

A Conservation Plan is useful both for cemetery management and for normal maintenance. It ties many aspects of a cemetery together in a logical way, which permits its responsible use to proceed. Provision should be made for funding of any regular maintenance which becomes necessary as a result of the project, unless voluntary maintenance can be assured. The plan should be professionally prepared and should assess all available physical, documentary, and other evidence. It should include a thorough recording of the existing features (See Articles 6, 26, 27 of the Burra Charter).

The location of cemetery records should always be noted in conservation planning documents. They are important records that contain details about graveplot ownership, as well as historical information that can help in assessing a monument's (or cemetery's) heritage significance.

Detailed guidelines for the preparation of Conservation Plans are outlined in J. S. Kerr, The Conservation Plan. A guide to the preparation of conservation plans for places of European cultural significance (Fifth Edition, National Trust of Australia (NSW), 2001). The procedures outlined in this guide have been formally adopted by the Cemeteries Committee of the National Trust.

6.5 PERMISSIONS

6.5.1 INFORMATION NEEDED

Before undertaking any work in a cemetery, permission must be sought from the controlling authority and other interested parties (such as relatives or descendants).

First, find out who controls the cemetery. Ensure you have the correct location/address of the cemetery and any alternative names that refer to it. These are important for correct identification of ownership. In broad terms, the local government authority controls general cemeteries, church authorities control churchyards or denominational burial grounds, and private individuals or family trusts control family cemeteries on private properties. Many Councils have a heritage study available at local libraries and these may give you ownership information. Otherwise local Council officers can usually tell you.

If you do not know already, find out who owns the grave plot from the controlling authority. It helps if you have the section and grave plot number to clarify ownership of graves. The authority may require the owner’s permission and may also require assurance that other relatives or descendants are agreeable to the proposed work (see Section 3.4).

Find out if the cemetery is listed as a heritage item by local, State or national government. Such a listing will help you to identify the most appropriate way to carry out the work. Check the State Heritage Inventory on line at www.heritage.nsw.gov.au for listings on the State Heritage Register or Register of the National Estate. The Inventory also shows local government listings, but the relevant Council should be contacted for the latest listings. The Council’s Local Environment Plan may give further details.

6.5.2 HERITAGE CHECKLIST FOR WORK

Cemeteries protected by statutory heritage listings sometimes have special requirements or controls for work. This checklist will help you to identify who may need to "sign-off" on your proposed works.

1) Is the item (or place) on the State Heritage Register? If so you should write down very clearly what you propose to do and then check if it is covered by

a) Standard Exemptions (eg maintenance, weeding), or by

b) Site Specific Exemptions previously agreed to by the NSW Heritage Council, or by

c) a Conservation Management Plan or Conservation Policy for the place, which the Heritage Office has endorsed.

2) If such exemptions do not apply you must request permission for the work from the Heritage Office.

3) Is the item more than 50 years old? (eg a displaced 1926 headstone). In this case you must advise the Heritage Office of your intentions and they will tell you if a formal, detailed application for permission is required.

4) Is the item/place on a Local or Regional heritage list? If so, contact the local Council for their requirements.

5) In all cases after completing steps 1-3, you should then go back to the controlling authority (Church, Council, property owner etc.) and confirm that you have permission to proceed.

REMEMBER: It is essential to keep a written record throughout of whom you contacted, together with any letters and documents involved.