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Local News
SEPTEMBER 29, 2023
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Crosses in defiance
RIP and farewell, Grieving widower scorns rules and erects second memorial Digger l CAIRNS CBD
l GORDONVALE | Nick Dalton A GORDONVALE man has installed a second permanent aluminum cross at the town’s cemetery – this time at his grave site – in breach of Cairns Regional Council regulations. Tony Gibbs is already in hot water with the council after he erected a similar cross at the grave of his late wife Donna Gibbs earlier this month without making an application. He has been ordered to remove his wife’s cross by the council by today or it will be taken down by local authority staff. Mr Gibbs said he expected the council would demand he remove the second cross, which was put in place last Saturday. The 75-year-old told Cairns Local News he had erected the crosses because he was getting older, had no children to help him and had relied on a friend to assist who was leaving Cairns soon. The council has sent Mr Gibbs a second letter inviting him to make an application for the first cross. “But the form doesn’t conform. There is no provision for crosses on the form, just vaults, headstones and plaques,” he said. Mr Gibbs said he was “a bat-
Tony Gibbs has installed a second cross at the Gordonvale Cemetery, after being warned about the first by the council. Picture: Nick Dalton
tling pensioner” and could not afford the application fees. “It’s not a headstone, there is no provision for a cross,” he said. Mr Gibbs said the crosses had been built by engineers using
100mm box section aluminum at a local company. “They’ve all been done professionally but they say they don’t comply,” he said. “They were $400 each plus I paid for cement and a wheelbar-
row. Wooden crosses don’t last. They fall apart after three to four years. “The precedent has already been set. There’s already one in the cemetery, it’s been there for about seven years.
“The council don’t want a threat to the city’s stonemasons by having people put in their own memorials.” There are at least 20 crosses in the cemetery.
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ST MONICA’S Cathedral is expected to be packed for the funeral today of former Cairns mayor Kevin Byrne. The 74-year-old died in Cairns Private Hospital on Thursday last week. Mr Byrne (right) was mayor twice – from 1992 to 1995, and then from 2000 to 2008. He was born in Lae, Papua New Guinea in 1949 and later had a distinguished 17-year military career with his last assignment as a senior instructor at the Royal Military College, Duntroon. The Vietnam veteran was heavily involved in the business community after his local government career, including as chief executive of Advance Cairns. But in the past year he underwent serious cancer surgery and this year he broke a hip which also required surgery. His advocacy for the city continued as chief executive of Enterprise Cairns. Tributes have flowed for the city father who was passionate about Cairns right up until his death. A LIFE WELL LIVED PAGE 4