Wanaka resident Loris King is seeking funding from community organisations and the Queenstown Lakes District Council to restore the graves, several of which mark the last resting place of
people who played a prominent part in the early days of the Upper Clutha.
Among the names featuring on the headstones are William Monteith, the Sachtler and Maidman families and Theodore Russell, who built the Lake Wanaka Hotel in 1867 with wife Celia Hedditch.
Their graves are in the old part of the cemetery - previously known as Pembroke Cemetery - but a fire
destroyed the records. Mrs King said while the grounds were always kept in a ''very tidy state'' by the district council, many of the graves in the older section needed attention.
She doubted there were many descendants left in the area, so there was ''nobody else to look after them''.
She formed the Friends of Pembroke Cemetery committee in 2012 and approached the council about repairing the graves, but was told authority was required from the families of those buried there.
The committee then advertised its intentions in the Otago Daily Times and asked for descendants to get in touch.
Just one family made contact, advising they would attend to their ancestor's plot.
The committee then sought advice from the Historic Cemeteries Conservation Trust on how to proceed.
The trust engaged Dunedin Monumental Masons to photograph the graves and quote for the restoration work, then funded technical repairs for five of the plots, including resetting memorial name plates and headstones on plinths.
Mrs King said the work on the remaining 20 graves - the cost of which had yet to be determined - would include repairing concrete surrounds and wrought iron fences, removing growth from headstones and graves and filling in rabbit holes under graves.
