Daffodils set to brighten Lyttelton cemeteries but some graves still in 'shocking state'

Earthquake damage at the Lyttelton Catholic and Public Cemetery (above) and Lyttelton Anglican...
Earthquake damage at the Lyttelton Catholic and Public Cemetery (above) and Lyttelton Anglican Cemetery. Daffodils are being planted to ‘lift their appearance.’ Photo: Ella Somers
Thousands of daffodils are being planted to brighten up Lyttelton’s two earthquake-damaged cemeteries.

Christchurch City Council community parks manager Al Hardy said it had already planted 20,000 grand monarch daffodil bulbs in the Lyttelton Anglican Cemetery and are planting 20,000 daffodils bulbs in the Lyttelton Catholic and Public Cemetery this month.

The bulbs will flower later this winter or in early spring.

Hardy said the 40,000 daffodil bulbs cost $18,000 and were funded through the city council’s community parks green asset renewal programme.

The daffodil planting initiative was proposed by the city council’s in-house cemetery maintenance team in December 2019.

Broken slabs of concrete around a grave in the Lyttelton Anglican Cemetery. Photo: Ella Somers
Broken slabs of concrete around a grave in the Lyttelton Anglican Cemetery. Photo: Ella Somers
The daffodils will “lift the appearance, increase amenity value and introduce more colour into our cemeteries,” Hardy said.

There have been 3800 burials within both cemeteries and 95 per cent of the burials are classified as heritage which means they date back to before 1950.

Hardy said the daffodils are not being planted to mitigate the severe earthquake damage in the two cemeteries, which have not had any repair work from the council.

The city council inspected all cemeteries after the earthquakes to ensure they were in safe condition for visitors. Monuments and headstones deemed “unsafe” were laid flat on the ground, Hardy said.

Broken monuments, headstones and concrete kerbing are still lying on the hillsides of both Lyttelton cemeteries.

Some of the returned servicemen graves at the Lyttelton Catholic and Public Cemetery. Photo: Ella...
Some of the returned servicemen graves at the Lyttelton Catholic and Public Cemetery. Photo: Ella Somers
Veterans’ Affairs deputy head Marti Eller said the organisation had been in discussion with the city council since 2014 over repairing the 50 damaged soldiers’ graves in the Lyttelton Catholic and Public Cemetery.

“Veterans’ Affairs has always been ready to support the repair of the [soldiers’] graves at Lyttelton,” she said.

Lyttelton Reverend John McLister said some of the graves in the cemeteries had been in a “shocking state” since the earthquakes. He had been concerned for several years about the damage to the soldiers’ graves.

Banks Peninsula Community Board member Reuben Davidson said it was “disappointing” that the cemeteries were still in a state of disrepair and it would be good to see a plan from the city council on how they intend to repair them.

Banks Peninsula Ward city councillor and Deputy Mayor Andrew Turner said repairing cemetery gravestones was “detailed, specialised work that needs to be done by professionals which means it’s not cheap.”

Turner said the city council was constantly reminded by communities that they needed to be frugal with finances.

It was about finding the “right balance” but said finding a long-term solution to repairing the cemeteries needed to be found.

It would require some funds to be put on budget by the city council “when we’re through some of the particular constraints we have at the moment.

-By Ella Somers