THE Gordon Street frontage of Port Macquarie’s historic cemetery will be upgraded as part of a plan adopted at Port Macquarie-Hastings Council meeting.
Council has officially adopted the draft Port Macquarie Historic Cemetery (Gordon Street Frontage), and will now proceed to the detailed design and construction phase of the project with the first stage of works to be undertaken in the next financial year.
The council’s infrastructure and asset management director Jeffery Sharp said the aim of the project was to upgrade the landscaping, signage and planting along the Gordon Street frontage of the historic cemetery and to make it more relevant.
The current Gordon Street frontage garden was constructed in the 1950s with the commemorative name monument installed in 1963. Around the same time the garden won the Sydney Morning Herald Garden Competition and the site became a recognised gateway for tourists to Port Macquarie.
Mr Sharp said the existing landscaping was tired and sections of the garden bed were falling apart. It is also felt that the landscaping acted as a barrier to the Historic Cemetery and – within it – the Second Burying Ground, which is listed on the NSW State Heritage Register.
Mr Sharp said the council had spent a considerable amount of time working with the Office of Environment and Heritage to come up with a suitable design for the site.
The council had also engaged with a range of stakeholder groups to come up with a design that would be pleasing to the wider community.
The project will deliver landscaping, signage and interpretive structures that are simple, bold, eye-catching and low maintenance.
The Port Macquarie 1821 sign will be retained but will be shortened to enable it to be photographed without the need for people to step out onto Gordon Street.
Mayor Peter Besseling said the project would open up the historic cemetery to visitors as well as local residents – including historians, genealogists and even CBD workers wanting somewhere quiet to enjoy their lunch – and create improved linkages with the town centre.
