Thefts from graves at Malbina Cemetery in the Derwent Valley have prompted council action, with security patrols and surveillance now on the cards.
Derwent Valley mayor Michelle Dracoulis raised the alarm on May 3 after a family reported solar lights had been taken from a loved one’s grave that morning.
It is the latest in a string of incidents at the cemetery in recent years, with toys taken from children’s graves, flowers removed and plaques stripped for scrap metal.
Trees planted by the council have also been stolen.
“It’s stealing from the dead,” Dracoulis said. “And it harms the people who are still here loving them.”
She said cemeteries were places of memory, grief and quiet connection that mattered deeply to grieving families.
Dracoulis said she would push for stronger protections at Malbina Cemetery, including surveillance.
She moved to head off privacy concerns, noting surveillance was already used across public spaces and was “lawful, tightly controlled and not accessible to the general public”.
“Doing nothing is not acceptable,” she said.
Derwent Valley Council CEO Wes Young said officers were aware of the uptick in anti-social and potentially unlawful behaviour at the site.
He said staff were rolling out temporary measures to discourage the activity.
Those measures “may include security patrols and surveillance without further notice to the public – for obvious reasons”, Young said.
“Officers are also working on a series of potential longer-term measures and will have more to say in due course.”
Young said the council had a “zero-tolerance approach” to damage and unauthorised removal of items from the cemetery.
He added it “reserves the right to seek to prosecute” people found desecrating graves, memorials or items placed upon them.
“The conduct is also entirely at odds with community expectations and causes significant distress to impacted families,” he said.
