The descendants of a Bendigo pioneer are making a final push to raise funds to restore his deteriorating grave.
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Robert Ross Haverfield was a grazier, newspaper proprietor and editor in the 1800s who founded the Bendigo Advertiser and the Riverine Herald.
Mr Haverfield's descendants started a GoFundMe page in August 2018 with the intention to raise $10,000 for the restoration of his grave at the Bendigo Remembrance Park.
The family had been planning to shut down the page at the end of last month, but has instead decided to keep it open for a little longer.
"We haven't disconnected it yet," Mr Haverfield's great-great-granddaughter Shirley Dwyer said. "We could miss a golden opportunity."
Ms Dwyer and Mr Haverfield's great-great-grandson Graeme Sproul were hoping to establishing new foundations at the site, a new granite slab, and lettering to honour his wife Marianna Haverfield, who is also buried there.
"We want to do the complete restoration of the monument," Ms Dwyer said. "The grave is deteriorating badly.
"It does need a total restoration, down to the foundations. We're hoping to achieve that very soon."
While the family has not been able to start the project yet because of insufficient funds, Ms Dwyer and Mr Sproul will be looking to drum up support at a speaking event on Sunday.
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The Bendigo Pioneers Series talks, presented by Bendigo Remembrance Park volunteer Greta Balsillie, will look at the notable graves in the cemetery, including Mr Haverfield's.
"The reason Greta does these talks is to promote it to the young ones what the pioneers did," Ms Dwyer said. "We're going to be speaking about our great-great grandfather. He is the subject of our presentation.
"We're hoping to shine a light on the grave."
Ms Dwyer said the talk will be at the Bendigo Remembrance Park on Sunday, October 13 from 2pm - 4pm.
She said anyone interested in contributing to the fundraising can also do so at gofundme.com/f/pioneer-visionary-memorial
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