Rotary Invercargill South event co-ordinator Paul Cade said about 20 people turned up on Saturday morning to take part in a graveside scrub-up.
Under council rules, club members were not allowed to clean grave sites because they were owned by families, he said.
But the club organised the event and was happy to provide cleaning products and advice about the most effective cleaning methods for stonework.
Monumental mason Greg Fordyce was also on hand to provide guidance.
Invercargill resident Dapeal MacAskill, with the help of her little niece Nevaeh Sadler-Kaahu, cleaned 16 family gravesites from three generations.
Ms MacAskill enjoyed relaying the stories of the family members to her niece as they cleaned the sites.
The outing was purposely planned to provide the platform to pass on the heritage to the next generation.
"It has been passed down through us that you’ve got to look after [the graves]," Ms MacAskill said.
"Our grandmother always said that she did not want a dirty grave, so she took on the job of cleaning the graves because Nanny used to do that for Pop and Uncle Alan."
Her niece would eventually inherit the responsibility of cleaning the sites.
Nevaeh said she liked the job because it meant she was being "responsible, kind and caring".
— Toni McDonald
