But when he called in for his annual visit at the weekend he was taken aback by what he calls "the disgusting state" of the place.

"I went to the grave and I was absolutely appalled.

"The grass is jolly near up to my knees."

Mr Gregory, who is his 80s, has been looking after his sister's grave for more than 30 years.

It's in the older section of the cemetery, close to Wakeford Street.

"I go there every year to look after it - just keeping it painted and tidy and doing things that might be necessary.

"I'm ready to do my annual 'service' I suppose you might call it, and I popped in there and thought 'oh my goodness this is absolutely atrocious'."

He has never seen the cemetery look so neglected.

"Just shocking it is. It's right on the main street along there and it's just terrible. I've never seen it as bad as that."

He says he feels for anyone who has a loved one in the cemetery: "you're wading through this long grass.

"It's bad for the town too."

Mr Gregory said he had tried to contact council and left a message.

"Someone there is obviously meant to be mowing it or looking after it," he said.

Orange City Council's Corporate and Community Relations Manager, Nick Redmond blamed the recent wet weather for the delay to mowing at the cemetery, saying it was difficult for machinery to access some sites.

He asked for patience as council caught up on the work.

"Like many parks in Orange, recent steady rains have made it difficult for large machinery to access open spaces for mowing, but as temperatures warm-up, crews are catching up on the back-log of mowing work," Mr Redmond said.

"While the lawn cemetery section is already looking better, we're asking family members for their patience while we bring the older section up to its usual standard.

"The arrangements of gravestones in the older section of the cemetery also limit the size of the machinery we can use, so it's more labour intensive. We're about to appoint some new contractors to help catch up on this backlog of work," Mr Redmond said.

"Orange City Council knows how important the cemetery is as place for families to grieve and reflect.

"It's a large site and staff work hard to make the cemetery a place of beauty for family members to visit."

Mayoral candidate councillor Kevin Duffy has long called for a renovation of the old section of the Orange cemetery and has named the project as one of the issues he will take to the December 4 local government elections.

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