Thomas and Mary's Headstone is Falling Apart!

On Sunday 11th September a group of Thomas and Mary descendants met in the Muswellbrook cemetery to commence our journey along the Spencer Trail.

Long after all the Spencer graves had been located the the general discussions continued. Muswellbrook cemetery is not a bad place for a chin wag, it was a pleasant sunny morning and we all had a couple of generations of catch up to do.

David Spencer (blue shirted Matthew descendant (left)) pointed out to the poor condition of Thomas and Mary's headstone.

Some of you may not be aware that until about 20 years ago the headstone was lying flat on its back. The photo here shows the headstone lying on its back in 1990.

 Leigh Spencer (another Matthew descendant) arranged for the headstone to be stood up and also for the plaque to be placed in front of it.

The headstone is in poor condition apart from Thomas' section being almost illegible the stone has delaminated so it is only about 2/3 its original thickness and there is also a crack running the full width and thickness of the headstone about 1/3 of the way from the top.

Much of this damage may have resulted fromthe headstone falling over and then spending decades lying on the ground.

Quite literally the headstone is falling apart and needs attention

David indicated that the stone could be repaired using high strength adhesives. The other alternative is the replication and replacement of the stone.

At this point I have no real ide of the logistics, legality or cost of the two options. I am simply putting the ideas out for discussion.

There has been a little discussion thus far about subscription funding whichever process is decided on. I think this is a great idea.

If we do not do something soon, we will be left with a a pile of sandstone fragments with illegible text marking the grave of the founders of our family in Australia.