At Monday’s council meeting, councillors voted to prepare a conservation management plan at an estimated cost of $10,000 for the overgrown and isolated Garrawarra Cemetery, north-west of Helensburgh.

The development of a publicly available burial register for the site and a Friends of the Cemetery group were among further recommendations to come from the meeting.

Wollongong Lord Mayor Gordon Bradbery said  council had been custodian of the cemetery for 45 years, but councillors had only recently become aware of the role.

‘‘Its remote location and overgrown condition due to a lack of maintenance since the 1960s makes it unrecognisable as a cemetery,’’  Councillor  Bradbery said.

‘‘There was confusion over who owned the land -  it was thought to be owned by the Department of Health, although custodianship was actually handed over to Wollongong City Council in 1967.

‘‘So in the process Garrawarra Cemetery has become not only a place of death, but it’s also been lost in the bureaucracy. Now it’s been rediscovered and we will set about resurrecting it.’’

Cr Bradbery said the council would work with community organisations to restore the cemetery, a burial site for some 2000 men, women and children who died from tuberculosis between 1909 and 1957.

The victims were patients at the nearby Waterfall State Sanatorium for tuberculosis, which was converted to an aged-care facility in 1958 and  now was known as Garrawarra Hospital.

‘‘The cemetery is significant historically as it represents an era that has passed in this country – a time when tuberculosis took a large toll on the population,’’ Cr Bradbery said.

The lord mayor said as part of the management plan, the council would support the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage’s push to include the entire Garrawarra site for listing on the State Heritage Register.

‘‘We will also be working to develop a publicly available burial register and will be exploring ways to make the cemetery itself accessible.

‘‘At the moment we’d advise the public not to visit as it’s very isolated and quite overgrown so it poses safety risks.

‘‘Also we don’t want any more damage done to it.’’

People who know of family buried in the cemetery should contact the council’s customer service centre on 42277111.