Thank you to everyone who responeded to my initial posting concerning the cemetery damage in Australia. I must say the police out there are taking it very seriously and are putting real effort in finding who was responsible. The cemetery in East London where my twin is buried suffered a huge amount of vandalism in the 1970's. It has now been completely turned round due, apparently, to the much-encouraged increase in use. It is now a registered site of interest for its wildlife, local schools use it for many parts of the curriculum, including history with, as you say, people like us transcribing inscriptions and actually visiting those we are related to. It is a popular place for local workers to eat their lunch. I regret to say that neglected burial grounds are laying temselves open to damage these days in much the same way as derelict buildings, though neither should be so. My father, who died only 53 in 1980, started the hitherto unknown family trend of cremations and being scattered afterward in a place he loved. Though as a family historian this makes me cringe, at least I know no one can vandalise the last resting place of my relatives - though my husband's is, I must admit, terribly noisy for two weeks of the year! So - the answer has to be that we all get out there, whether to our family cemetery or the one which is closest, and do our bit to safe-guard it. And whilst my children look at me as if I'm mad, I am under 50 and still remember the family picnic round the family plot on Grandad's birthday (it was freezing). Or was that just an East London tradition? Margaret