NSW: Bush poet's grave to be restored

AAP General News (Australia)
04-25-2004
NSW: Bush poet's grave to be restored

SYDNEY, April 25 AAP - The grave of Australian bush poet Henry Lawson will be restored.

Lawson died in 1922 and was buried in Waverley Cemetery, the final resting of several
notable Australians including fellow poet Henry Kendall and Australia's pioneer aeronautical
scientist Lawrence Hargrave.

Lawson was the author of classic Australian works including The Drover's Wife and In
the Days when the World was Wide.

Lawson's grave and the family plot, including the grave of his wife Bertha Marie Louise,
will be restored with a $10,000 grant from the NSW Government.

NSW Premier Bob Carr said Lawson's grave had deteriorated in recent years and was not
properly signposted.

"Henry Lawson's prose helped interpret Australia's identity and shape our sense of
fairness and mateship," Mr Carr said.

"It is fitting that such an influential Australian be remembered and recognised."

The restoration is part of a program by Waverley Council to secure donations and funding
to restore significant and historic graves within the Waverley Cemetery.

Waverley Mayor Peter Moscatt said the restoration would help preserve links to the past.

The first interment at the cemetery had been in 1877 and more than 50,000 graves were
spread across 16 hectares.

AAP kd/cjh

KEYWORD: LAWSON

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