Members of the Headstone Project spent just under two years walking through Tasmanian cemeteries to locate the unmarked graves. 

It was a difficult task, especially considering majority of the group resides in Hobart. 

Headstone Project president Andrea Gerrad said it was hard to estimate how many unmarked graves there were in the North because people regularly come to her with someone who was missed off the list. 

But the group has at least 150 graves earmarked for the works that will begin on Monday and continue for the next six months. 

The Launceston project will be supported by an initiative for job seekers funded by the federal government. 

“That is the biggest help we are getting because it means we have people who can do the manual work,” Ms Gerrad said. 

“We are hoping to have 10 Work for the Dole people helping.” 

The state government has committed $40,000 to the project as part of its $750,000 package to support our veterans and ex-serving communities in Tasmania over the next 3 years.

Ms Gerrad anticipates one or two headstones will be erected each week, but it will depend on how quickly the participants can be up-skilled. 

“Depending what group we get, most of them have no skills in that area so we need to give them the skills,” Ms Gerrad said.

“We expect them to be a bit slower to start with, but that’s fine because they will be learning about teamwork and the veterans.”

The process to erect the headstones at Carr Villa is more expensive because concrete slabs need to be laid before other work can commence. 

“It is somewhere in the order of eight or $900 each because you have to account for the amount of concrete that needs to be used,” Ms Gerrad said. 

Since the project’s inception in 2012 there have been 347 headstones erected across the state. 

Ms Gerrad said majority of those were in the south and the group had a lot of assistance from RSL Tasmania, ex-service organisations and councils in the greater Hobart area. 

“We did 13 at Ulverstone cemetery in conjunction with the Ulverstone RSL and last year we did nine after getting a grant from the City of Launceston Council at Carr Villa cemetery,” she said. 

RSL Tasmania chief executive Noeleen Lincoln OAM said they are immensely grateful to the dedicated volunteers of the Headstone Project for giving those who paid the ultimate sacrifice a respectful resting place.

“One of our own very important Objects of the League is to preserve the memory and records of those who suffered and died for Australia, and provide them with suitable burial places,”  she said.

“RSL Tasmania has proudly supported the Tasmanian Headstone Project for many years, both financially and in kind, as their work is reflective of that object.”

The volunteer-run project was presented at the RSL’s national conference in Melbourne in 2016. 

“The Headstone Project was a topic of great interest to many of the representatives from the other states, and I understand that a similar project has been commenced in at least two mainland states now,” Ms Lincoln said. 

The first soldiers to have their graves marked will be;

Ms Gerrad said the project would like to hear from any family of the veterans.