Eight of the 89 graves at the penal-colony era burial ground were targeted in the weekend attack.

Descendants of those buried at the Gordon St cemetery still live in the town.

Port Macquarie-Hastings Council heritage officer Mitch McKay said the hoodlums went “the whole hog” in the weekend spree.

“I wonder if those who vandalised the cemetery would do the same to graves of members of their family, or even watch as others vandalised them,” he said.

“Vandals ... even dislodged the sandstone top of the grave of Reverend John Cross, who was the Anglican minister in Port Macquarie for 30 years in the 1800s.”

That ledger across the top of Rev Cross’s monument weighs hundreds of kilos. A crane will be needed to return it to its rightful place.

More than 1500 people, including soldiers, convicts and settlers, were buried at the site between 1824 and 1886.

Workers found the damage on Monday morning, when they arrived to continue the $100,000 restoration they have undertaken at the site during the past five years.

Mr McKay believes numerous people must have been involved in the attack because of the effort needed.

“It had to be more than two or three people because of the sheer weight of the tombstones they shifted,” he said.

Shirley Gamack, a descendant of Corporal Michael Fahey – who was appointed in 1827 as convict supervisor at Rollands Plains and is buried at the site – said she was “shocked’’ by the destruction.

The grandmother of five and member of the Port Macquarie & Districts Family Society said, although Corporal Fahey’s grave was spared by the vandals, she “couldn’t put into words” how upset she was.

“I just can’t understand it,” she said.

Port Macquarie police acting detective Inspector Kim Fehon said the vandals, if caught, could be charged with malicious damage, which carried a maximum penalty of five years’ imprisonment.

Anyone with information about the attack should phone Port Macquarie police or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.