Rural and Isolated Cemeteries in Danger
Recently our attention was drawn to the plight of numerous neglected burial grounds in the Marlborough Sounds, many of which face the threat of subdivision and thus perhaps destruction. When we contacted the Marlborough District Council they initially expressed no knowledge of, or interest in, such graveyards. However eventually they were able to confirm their existence. This highlights what must be the plight of very many small and long-forgotten gravesites throughout New Zealand. Naturally we are concerned about this state of affairs. We believe that under the RMA it is clear that ALL heritage is the responsibility of the local authority, and they must step up to the mark and identify and assess the historic burial grounds in their area and include them in their District Plans where appropriate. Go to top of page

Mount Street Cemetery Wellington
The Mount Street Cemetery is situated in the Wellington suburb of Kelburn and overlooks the City in a north easterly direction. The site provides a panoramic view of the City and Harbour.

The Cemetery is owned by the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Wellington and was a burial place for Catholics from the mid 1800’s, particularly parishioners of the Church of St. Mary of the Angels in Boulcott Street. The Cemetery is a historical record not only for the families of those buried there, but also for the City of Wellington and is considered to be a good example of a New Zealand Victorian Cemetery.

The site abuts the Victoria University campus and is used extensively by students for recreational purposes.

The Archdiocese keeps the grounds of the Cemetery in trim, but little has been done in recent years to conserve the headstones etc. and this has now become urgent.

A pilot group has been formed, in conjunction with the Archdiocese, for the purpose of ensuring the ongoing conservation of the Cemetery in conformity with its original Victorian characteristics.

As a first step an existing Conservation Plan is to be professionally reviewed and then it is hoped that funding can be found to carry out a conservation programme in accordance with that Plan.

Mark Horton, Convener, Mount Street Cemetery Working Group, Wellington Go to top of page

Dunedin
Using Cemeteries in Education
Since our inception we have planned to institute a programme of education that uses the historic resources and interest in cemeteries to underpin modules for use by teachers and students of local schools. Chris & Margaret Betteridge, Heritage Consultants from Sydney have kicked this project into life by offering assistance similar to that which they offer in Australia.
Discussions with interested parties have led to a proposal to develop a web-based generic study modules that could be applied to any local cemetery. This will be ‘road-tested’ in Dunedin and once everyone is happy with it we plan make it available NZ wide for local application. To the obvious historical significance in cemeteries can be added the educational possibilities of art, ecology, politics, economic and social development.
Development of modules fro primary, intermediate, secondary and NCEA pupils will continue in consultation with educational specialists at Otago University, local teachers, Otago Museum, and other interested parties. Go to top of page

Hastings
Photographing Headstones
Some information and background on the Hastings Cemetery database.
When I joined the Hastings District Council five and a half years ago the burial and cremation records were only weeks away from being ready to go on line via the Hastings District Council website.
I was also aware that that another department had just finished plotting (excuse the pun) all the cemetery plots for the GIS system.
After discussions with the IT group it was agreed we could match the records with the GIS system and folk could locate individual plots and print maps off for cemetery visits.
Then expanding the idea further I discussed, again with the IT group, the feasibility of matching photographs of headstones to individual plots.
We determined that by identifying each headstone photograph with the records individual number we could match the two.
The trial run proved successful so then we were underway. Because of budget restrictions the photographing has/is being done by myself with any spare time I can manage to find.
The photographing involves a lot of cleaning of headstones to reveal the names and dates on them, a paint scraper for the granite stones and a soft brush for the marble ones.
About 98% of Hastings Cemetery headstones are on the database, the other 2% were not worth putting on as they were not readable.
I photograph about 200-250 stones at a time then download to the PC and number each one with the matching record number.
There are about 14,000 headstones in the Hastings Cemetery which is now complete. There are still three cemeteries to go, though the numbers are far less.
Although the project is time consuming and a bit of a bore at times the results make the effort worth while.
We have had lots of compliments on system and the information available on the site.
Also genealogy enquiries to the office have dropped dramatically.

Angus McKinlay, Sexton, Hastings City Council Go to top of page

Conservation Tip Of The Month
We have recently had a request to price the replicating and installing of two cast iron fence sections. Investigations found that it is possible to cast these in either aluminium or iron. We believe that it is essential that they be cast in the same material as the original, i.e iron, to give similar aging characteristics to the original. Local iron founders, Gillies Metaltech of Oamaru have agreed to price the job but we have to send them a sample panel so they can see if they can do the job properly at an affordable price.

Do you have an email address? If we are sending this to you by surface post do you have an email address please? It is easier and cheaper for us, so if you could reply by email we would add you to our email list. Go to top of page