Dunedin Southern Cemetery

Dunedin Southern Cemetery

William Cargill's gravestone in Dunedin Southern Cemetery.
Details
Established 1858
Location Princes Street, Dunedin
Country New Zealand
Number of graves 23,000
Official name Southern Cemetery
Designated 30 June 2006
Reference no. 7657

The Southern Cemetery in the New Zealand city of Dunedin was the first major cemetery to be opened in the city. The cemetery was opened in 1858, ten years after the founding of the city in an area known as "Little Paisley".[1] This area lies at the southern end of Princes Street, one of the city's main streets, close to the suburbs of Kensington, Maryhill, and The Glen (part of Caversham).

Description

The cemetery had separate sections set aside for Presbyterians, Anglicans, and Roman catholics, as well as a Jewish section. The 1860s saw a major influx of people into the city due to the Central Otago Gold Rush, including a large number of Chinese from Guangdong; a separate Chinese section to the cemetery was added in the years that followed.[2] A large proportion of New Zealand's early Jewish immigrants are buried in the cemetery's Jewish section.[3]

The Northern Cemetery, at the other end of the city's main urban area, was opened in 1872. Neither of these cemeteries are still used for new burials (the last burials at the Southern Cemetery were in 1985); as of 2009 Dunedin's main cemetery is at Andersons Bay in the south of the city.

In all, some 23,000 burials were recorded at the Southern Cemetery. Much of the cemetery is in a poor state of maintenance, though there are plans to repair some of its more damaged areas. There are 21 graves of service personnel registered and maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, 20 from World War I and one from World War II.[4] The cemetery is listed on the New Zealand Historic Places Trust Register as a Historic Place - Category I.[5]

The cemetery's Jewish and Chinese sections are of particular historical importance.

Notable interments

See also

References

  1. ↑ Herd, J., and Griffiths, G., (1980) Discovering Dunedin. Dunedin; John McIndoe. pp. 112-113.
  2. ↑ Morris, Chris (15 April 2009). "Trust impressed by restoration of Chinese graves". Otago Daily Times. Retrieved 29 September 2011.
  3. ↑ Archived 17 May 2008 at the Wayback Machine.
  4. ↑ "Cemetery Details". CWGC.org. Retrieved 2015-05-09.
  5. ↑ "Southern Cemetery". Register of Historic Places. Heritage New Zealand. Retrieved 25 September 2011.
  6. ↑ Cemeteries.org.nz
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Coordinates: 45°53′24″S 170°29′37″E / 45.8899°S 170.4937°E / -45.8899; 170.4937

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