RIP, but not for much longer. (Photo: Mary and Andrew/CC BY 2.0)
Australia’s cliffside Waverly Cemetery is one of the most iconic graveyards in the world with burial sites edging up against a severe cliff, but after recent storms, the famous Aussies buried there are in danger of falling into the sea.
Located in Sydney, above Bronte Beach, the graveyard is home to some 50,000 graves, packed right up to the cliff’s edge. First established in 1877, the cemetery is the final final resting place of a number of Australian notables including the poet Henry Lawson, and Australia’s first prime minister, Sir Edmund Barton. In addition to its evocative cliffside location the cemetery is well known for the large number of surviving Victorian and Edwardian stonework and monuments.
But heavy storms have placed parts of the historic graveyard in a precarious position. As reported in the Daily Mail, after recent, heavy storm activity in Sydney, the cliffs at the edge of the cemetery have begun to fall away, jeopardizing the bodies buried underneath.
The landslip has been temporarily halted with some emergency webbing, but the problem remains. The cemetery might have a great seaside view, but nature can be fickle.