Glimpse the word "Heartland" at the entrance to West Taieri cemetery and you might assume it refers to the burial ground's location near the centre of Otago.
But for Mary Lawlor, the meaning is more personal. It is also where her heart is.
At 72, she has single-handedly overseen the conversion of the small rural cemetery from overgrown paddock to picturesque property.
It's a site where she has buried two sons - 17-year-old Peter in 1991 and his older sibling, John, in 2008 - and worked tirelessly for almost 20 years.
Along the way she has received knockbacks, parking and speeding fines and a cut above her left eye. The quietly-spoken Mosgiel woman has also found strengths she did not know she possessed, particularly when persuading charitable trusts to part with cash.
At each stage, Mrs Lawlor had to obtain council approval and funding - raising about $200,000 in total.
It was in 1992 that she first tackled the Dunedin City Council about the state of the cemetery, 2km from Outram, where she and husband Michael had chosen to bury their son.
Michael Lawlor passed it daily as he commuted to their farm at Deep Stream and its "rustic environment" appealed to the family's rural roots.
But the grass was mown only a few times a year, the absence of gates allowed sheep to get in and a creek through the property was so overgrown with weeds that at first Mrs Lawlor did not know it even existed.
At an on-site meeting, council representatives said they would address the maintenance of graves and install a water tank, but any other improvements were the responsibility of the community.
Surprised and disappointed, Mrs Lawlor enlisted the help of friend Myra Macpherson to run a lottery and raise funds.
"We thought it would be quick and easy," she says, laughing. "It was the opposite."
The build-up to a Bledisloe Cup match in Dunedin seemed the ideal time to launch the raffle but people were more interested in getting to the game and only 10 bought tickets. So that night - ignoring suggestions from patrons that white-haired Myra should be tucked up in bed - they "went around the pubs" and sold another 4000.
With the first $10,000 in the bank, Mrs Lawlor began applying for grants - writing letters, speaking to board members and going back when she was turned down.
"It was difficult to convince some people. Funding organisations saw it as a Dunedin City Council responsibility ... but the council has very limited funding for cemeteries and is responsible for 19 [of them]."
On one occasion, she returned from such a meeting to find a parking ticket on her car. On another, she received a speeding fine as she drove to Mt Grand to supervise the removal of rocks.
Those large rocks were used to landscape the creek area once it had been cleared. Workers planted the area in natives and built a substantial stone bridge over the water.
They also added 6000 daffodils and 60 ornamental trees, all of which complemented a large Wellingtonia (Sequoiadendron giganteum) planted many years before.
At the top of the cemetery, a stone wall took shape during a drystone-wall class Mrs Lawlor organised. She laid only a few stones before cutting her face on the edge of a car door but characteristically waited until the end of the day to have it stitched.
The procedure did not hurt even without a local anaesthetic, she says, adding that the speeding ticket she got while driving to Mt Grand was "more painful".
"I definitely felt that, because it was a reasonable fine."
Back at the cemetery, workers enclosed an unsightly drain, built a 400m boundary fence to keep out rabbits and installed hardwood seats so the increasing number of visitors could enjoy the tranquil surroundings.
Stone pillars and wrought-iron gates were also placed at both entrances, with the words "West Taieri Cemetery" incorporated into the main gate and "Heartland" into the extension.
Mrs Lawlor describes the gates and signage as a work of art that is in keeping with the age of the cemetery - burials are now restricted to existing plots but its headstones date back to 1853 and thousands of new arrivals would have passed the site on their journey across heartland Otago to the goldfields.
Historic cemeteries are an important part of the nation's cultural heritage and need to be preserved, she says, adding a growing number of people are interested in genealogy and visit them to help piece together their family histories.
Mrs Lawlor knew from the first on-site meeting that the little cemetery alongside State Highway 87 could be transformed from rural paddock to a "beautiful place of remembrance": "There's a beautiful view overlooking the Taieri Plain. The Maungatuas are occasionally capped with snow and Saddle Hill clearly stands out in the background. It's very peaceful."
And she is quick to acknowledge those who helped with its development - among them charitable trusts, service clubs, farmer Neil Grant and the Mosgiel Community Board.
But only when pushed does she admit to being proud of what has been achieved.
While she will continue to take an interest in the cemetery, she is pleased she can now focus on other things, including family, tramping and Inner Wheel.
At times, she wanted to give up, but she had no intention of "going away".
"If I start something, I like to complete it ... I could see from that first day what could be achieved and that's what drove me."
