Maori History
In pre-European times, Maori had seasonal fishing villages on either side of the Whanganui River. The sandy hills now occupied by Heads Road Cemetery on the right bank of the river would have been an ideal location for such a village; the archaeological evidence of midden in this area substantiates this. Archaeological information also indicates that Heads Road Cemetery lies between two known pa sites, Te One Heke and Te Ahituatini, which were occupied in the 19th century. Maori used sand hills in the area for their burials, but there is no evidence thus far that they used the Heads Road Cemetery site. The major early Maori burial ground was on the other side of the river, the Pihaia Sandhills urupa (located near Landguard Bluff), was the ancestral burying place of the Putiki people. After 1840, when the Church Missionary Society (CMS) first sent John Mason as resident missionary at Putiki, most Maori burials took place at a new burial ground beside the mission church built in 1842. This cemetery at Putiki is still in use today, together with other urupa at lower Whanganui River sites, such as Kukuta and Kaiwhaiki.
The Origins of the European Cemetery in Wanganui
European settlement began in Wanganui once the New Zealand Company had completed its (later discredited) Wanganui land purchase in May 1840. Later that year the Company sent surveyors to begin laying out sections for the anticipated European settlers. The town plan for Petre (the name given to the town by the Company in honour of one of its directors) would have been drawn up in more detail following the initial survey and once details of the town sections on the right bank of the Whanganui River had been formalised by October 1841.
The 1842 town plan for Petre had a formal layout, complete with English parks, gardens, squares and crescents. The location for the main cemetery is clearly shown in the Town Belt area outside the town boundary and near the river. Another cemetery site was also identified at the northern end of town, at the foot of St John's Hill. However, this area was very swampy so the site would have proved unsuitable and was thus never used.
The first New Zealand Company European settlers arrived in Wanganui in February 1841. Although there may have been European deaths in town after that date, the first known burial to take place in the Sandhills Cemetery (the first name given to Heads Road Cemetery) was on 25 November 1843. James Bailey had drowned in the Whanganui River and his burial is recorded in the register maintained by the second CMS missionary to Wanganui, Revd Richard Taylor, who arrived in April 1843 following the untimely death by drowning of his predecessor, John Mason, who was buried in the Putiki churchyard. At the time, Richard Taylor was the only cleric in Wanganui, administering to the needs of Maori as well as the Anglican and Presbyterian settlers on the right bank of the river.
In 1844, an Episcopalian church was erected in Victoria Avenue, Wanganui - the first European church in town. As was still the English custom, the church had a consecrated churchyard that was used for most Anglican burials from 1845. The many Scottish settlers in town also worshipped at the Anglican Church until 1853 when the first resident Presbyterian minister arrived and started to hold services in the Mechanics' Institute prior to the building of the first St Paul's in 1856. However, the Presbyterians would have been more likely to have been buried in the main cemetery as the Scottish tradition is to have burial grounds located away from churches (although still sometimes referred to as 'kirkyards').
With the arrival of the first British regiments in 1847, Wanganui's population grew considerably. Many of the soldiers in the 58th (Rutlandshire), 65th (York and Lancaster) and other regiments brought their wives and families to Wanganui; deaths in the settlement increased and thus the use of the main cemetery by non-Protestants.
In 1851, two French Marist fathers arrived in Wanganui, Fathers Pezant and Lampila. Fr Stephan Pezant established a chapel on Taupo Quay and his Register of the Baptisms, Confirmations, Marriages and Burials of the Catholic Station of Petre (Whanganui) commenced in February 1852. No location is given for the first Catholic burial, that of William Laird on 16 February 1852. However, the second burial, of four-year-old Mary Cockley on 27 January 1854, took place in the 'Catholic church-yard' (the Catholic cemetery of Heads Road Cemetery). This follows the Special Grant, No 77, awarded to Bishop Viard of Wellington on 14 August 1853 of one acre of land within the Town Belt reserve area for the purposes of a cemetery.
There had been considerable concern expressed by Wanganui settler Dr Peter Wilson about the continued use of the Anglican churchyard in Victoria Avenue. In February 1847, Wilson wrote to his friend Donald McLean on the subject:
"I have been obliged of late to beat our parson [Revd Richard Taylor] out of one of his ridiculous prejudices - that of burying in the town. We have a capital cemetery selected by the company - out of town, but in every way convenient. But he [Taylor] is far too self-willed, and without consulting anyone enclosed a piece of ground around the church and has done all in his power to get that adopted. It is a vile wet place for you cannot dig in it beyond a few feet before you come to water".
Wilson's lobbying and letters to the Wellington Independent eventually had an effect. Provincial legislation was passed early in 1854, becoming law the following March, to prohibit all burials in churchyards in Wanganui and elsewhere in Wellington Province. From this time on, all European burials in Wanganui took place in Heads Road Cemetery.
Early Cemetery Management
The land for Heads Road Cemetery was formally set aside 'for the purposes of public utility to the Town of Wanganui and its inhabitants' as part of Reserve L in Letters Patent dated 3 June 1861 under the public seal of Thomas Gore Browne, Governor of the Colony. The following year the Town Board of Wanganui was established. Because the cemetery was located outside the town boundary, it required separate legislation to provide for its management. The 'Act to provide for the management of the General Cemetery at Wanganui' was assented to in June 1862 and vested responsibility for the main cemetery in Trustees who were to be appointed annually by the Provincial Superintendent. The Act included provisions for penalties against anyone damaging fences, trees or monuments and also prohibited playing games or causing a nuisance in the main cemetery.
The first Trustees of the main cemetery were Thomas Waters, Thomas Ballardie Taylor, John Handley, Henry Ireson Jones and Henry Lyon. Their first meeting was held on 24 February 1863, when they agreed a scale of charges for interments. Ordinary interments without gravestones would cost 12 shillings but people could choose to have the 'exclusive right of interment in a selected spot' with a brick grave or vault, with fenced surround and monument, for the higher charge of 15 shillings.
The first Trustees appear to have met infrequently, but did raise subscriptions in 1864 to erect a post and rail fence around the main cemetery (see Appendix 5a of the registration report). In contrast, the Catholic cemetery was neatly surrounded by a picket fence. With the resignation in January 1866 of the first Trustees , the resident magistrate, David Stark Durie, arranged for a new group of trustees to be appointed. As well as himself, these Trustees were Thomas Harper, William Hogg Watt, William Hutchinson and Francis Williamson. Durie forwarded the names of these gentlemen to the Provincial Superintendent on 7 January 1867 and their appointment was notified in the Wellington Provincial Gazette on 31 January 1867 with the new Trustees meeting on 21 February 1867. The Trustees met frequently over the next few years with Durie acting as chairman until his death in 1874.
The Trustees were concerned about 'irregularity in the laying off of graves' and in September 1867 agreed to ask local surveyor, Henry Claylands Field, to make a plan of the main cemetery. This plan was eventually prepared by Field at the cost of £8 2s and the Trustees resolved in December 1869 to divide the newly laid-out cemetery in two parts: the part next to the (old) entrance and extending to the hill was to be reserved for those who would purchase burial sites in advance, while the remainder would be open for selection for burials as required. The predominance of existing headstones in the southeast part of the main cemetery reflects this decision; less well-off citizens were buried on the northwest side and were less likely to have headstones.
The Origins of the Jewish Cemetery
As with the Catholic cemetery, the Jewish cemetery may have been subject to a Special Grant as the Superintendent of Wellington Province appointed William Robert Gilling Samuels and Henry Levy as Trustees on 14 June 1867. The consecration of the Jewish cemetery took place on 13 March 1870 prior to the burial of Mrs Marian Nathan, the 27-year old wife of local storekeeper, David Nathan. The Hebrew minister of Wellington, Rev BA Selig, consecrated the ground according to Hebrew rites. The newspaper report of the funeral, 'one of the largest that have ever taken place in Wanganui', noted that the land had recently been granted by the Provincial Government of Wellington for the purpose of a Jewish cemetery.
Cemetery Extension Planned
Following the Abolition of the Provinces Act 1875 Heads Road Cemetery became Crown Land. Subsequently, the Public Reserves Act 1877 (amended 1878) granted the area known as Reserve L to the Mayor, Councillors and Burgesses of the Borough of Wanganui (the Borough having been established in 1872). This was formalized by the Crown Grant No 6160 dated 15 July 1880 which identified certain sites within Reserve L as being excluded from Borough control: the Racecourse (marked a), the English Cemetery (marked b) (see below), the General Cemetery (otherwise known as the main cemetery) (marked c), the Jail Reserve (marked d), the Jewish Cemetery (marked e) and the Catholic Cemetery (marked f). From this time, the General Cemetery was referred to as Reserve C, the Jewish Cemetery as Reserve E and the Catholic Cemetery as Reserve F. The plan in the Deeds Register is faint, but the cemetery areas are clearly shown in the later Plan 11573 (see Appendix 4c of the registration report). At this time, the area set aside for the main cemetery was much larger (but the additional area was never used) and the area of the Jewish cemetery area extended further along Heads Road.
The Crown Grant and Plan 11573 both show the new road formed as an extension of Guyton Street in 1878, which was first called Cemetery Road. The Trustees contributed £50 towards the formation of Cemetery Road and wanted an avenue of trees to be planted.
The English Cemetery
As early as 1868, the Anglicans had wanted a separate section of the cemetery for their burials. A further request was made by Edward Churton in June 1879 for a piece of ground to be consecrated for a Church of England cemetery. The Trustees considered they had no power to grant this request. Since the 1880 Crown Grant identifies an English cemetery site, clearly the Anglicans did succeed in getting an area set aside. However, this 'English cemetery' site was never used and later became part of the rugby ground, Spriggens Park.
The Mound
When Reverend Richard Taylor died in October 1873, he was buried on the mound in the main cemetery (shown as 'hill' on the 1863 cemetery plan in Appendix 4b of the registration report) so that his grave would be visible from Putiki where he had served as missionary from 1843. In March 1874, the Cemetery Trustees agreed to hand over the burial site, measuring 9ft by 12ft, to Taylor's widow for the sum of £5. This was the first burial in this prominent part of the main cemetery. Major Nixon made an application in May 1881 for a family burial site in this area. The Trustees considered the request and decided that the southwest corner was an area where burial sites would only be allowed if they were at least 10ft in size and would cost at least 30s. This principle appears to have been upheld for some time as most of the burial sites on and adjacent to the Mound, including those of Henry Sarjeant and Gifford Marshall and family, are larger than many on the flatter parts of the main cemetery.
Sexton Appointed
While gravediggers had been employed from the 1860s, it was not until 1881 that the Trustees considered employing a full-time sexton. In January 1882, Mr G Woods was appointed at a salary of two guineas a week. However, by 1885 Mr Woods was apparently neglecting his duties so the Trustees dispensed with his services and advertised his position. Mr William Wilkins was chosen from 27 applicants and the Trustees arranged to purchase the cottage formerly occupied by the previous sexton so that Mr Wilkins could live close to the cemetery. The lease and repair of the sexton's cottage would give concern to the Trustees for many years.
Bill Wilkins remained sexton of the General Cemetery, and most likely the Catholic and Jewish cemeteries, for the following 42 years until his death in 1927. When the Aramoho Cemetery opened in 1915 he became sexton there for a couple of years but continued to serve as sexton at Heads Road Cemetery. His daughter married Andrew Anderson who took up the trade of monumental masonry; this continues to be run by his descendants as Anderson Memorials and Stone Co Ltd. Bill Wilkins 'took a great interest in his work and the care and attention he bestowed on the surroundings of the old cemetery reflected the greatest credit on him'. The sexton's record books dating from 1868, and maintained by Bill Wilkins from the time of his appointment, are retained by Anderson Memorials.
Between approximately 1930 and 1960, Alexander Beattie Cairns looked after the cemetery. Initially employed there as a labourer, Cairns went on to become a qualified sexton. Cairns' son tells that during his father's tenure as sexton he had the whole cemetery re-surveyed by a council surveyor (likely the main cemetery). Using council records he marked in the names from every grave site into the plan and then, not content with this, he carried out research in the cemetery to fill in any blanks. Using an 8 feet long steel rod to probe sites he located graves not recorded anywhere, including several under the pathways. On some occasions on digging a grave for a burial he would discover that the name plate on a previous burial differed from council records, suggesting the headstone was either erected on the wrong grave or the wrong person buried on that site. It seems likely that the plans and research are with the sexton's records at Aramoho Cemetery.
Cemetery Developments
In 1884, the Heads Railway Company decided to realign the railway line to Castlecliff, taking it alongside the Catholic cemetery on Heads Road. This caused concern at the time, as the entrance to the Catholic cemetery became unapproachable. The railway company agreed to improve the entrance. The line remained in this position until 1903 when it was moved back towards the river. The legacy of the railway is the wide verge beside the Catholic cemetery.
In 1896 the Cemetery Trustees considered a new cemetery would be needed in a few years, but this would be an issue for the Borough Council to pursue. The Trustees even visited a potential site that was for sale on part of the Nixon Estate in Wanganui East, but no action was taken by the Council. A building had been erected just inside the main entrance of the main cemetery, which would have served as a room for the Trustee's bi-monthly meetings. New footpaths were formed at this time also.
In 1899, Trustees considered the need to construct a better fence on the main frontage of the main cemetery, but did not proceed with this work at the time. Uncertainty over the precise boundary line of the main cemetery hindered plans for the fence for several years. A further complication was the decision of the Trustees in 1901 to ask the Borough Council to take over responsibility for the Cemetery Trust. This had first arisen in 1890, but the Town Clerk at the time had written to say that the Council could not take over the Trust. The Borough Council again declined to take over the Trust in 1902, at which time the Colonial Secretary asked the MP, Mr AD Willis, to nominate new trustees. With a new chairman, Mr Sharpe, (replacing the late Mr Laird who had served in this capacity for 30 years) and secretary, Peter Bell, the Trustees appear to have taken on a new lease of life. Alfred Atkins surveyed the cemetery in 1904, enabling the Trustees to determine a line for their fence. That same year, the Borough Council decided it was in a position to take over the main cemetery and discussions began about handing over to the Council the unused portion of the cemetery reserve. Despite continued discussions about these matters over the following nine years, nothing happened formally until 1913.
In the interim, in September 1907 the Cemetery Trustees decided they wanted to have title to the land and applied through their solicitors for a Crown Grant to be issued. This request was subsequently referred to the Under Secretary for Crown Lands who responded on 3 January 1908 that 'it is neither customary nor desirable to grant the fee-simple of public cemeteries to trustees' whose interests, he considered, were sufficiently defined in The Cemeteries Act 1882.
In 1907 a local architect, Thomas Battle, was asked to prepare plans for both the fence and a new cottage for the sexton (to be located on the unused cemetery reserve). The delay in erecting the fence was noted in the newspaper on 19 February 1909 when the Herald reported that 'after discussing the matter for about a quarter of a century, Wanganui [General] Cemetery Trustees decided to construct a brick and concrete fence along Guyton Street.' John Jones was awarded the contract to construct the wall. The brick wall remained until 1969 by which time it was in dire need of repairs. The City Council had a quotation for repair work that amounted to $971. The decision was taken to demolish the wall and a contract for this purpose was let to Mr R Stinson of Wanganui by August 1969.
With the development of the tram service in Wanganui, in 1911 the north side of the ridge had to be partly cleared to accommodate the tramlines along Ridgway Street. No further burials were to take place in this area.
The Need for a New Cemetery
By 1912, the Trustees were concerned about diminishing space for burials at the main cemetery. They met with the Borough Council, who agreed to secure a site for a new cemetery within twelve months. Progress was slow, with nothing definite decided about the site for a new cemetery by February 1913. Later that year, the Trustees approved the steps by which the Borough Council would take over the cemetery and the unused portion would be discharged from being a cemetery reserve.
By January 1914 the Borough Council had agreed to purchase 14 acres of the McNeill estate at Aramoho as the site for the new cemetery. This was not a universally popular choice, with Waitotara and Wanganui County Councils reported as not being keen to contribute financially to the new cemetery development. However, the development of the new cemetery at Aramoho went ahead, with the Closure Order for the General Cemetery (otherwise known as main cemetery) signed by the Governor on 16 November 1914, to be effective as of 1 June 1915 (see Appendix 1a of the registration report). From that date, the General Cemetery was vested with the Mayor, Councillors and Burgesses of the Borough of Wanganui. This order, however, only related to the main part of the cemetery; it did not apply to either the Jewish or Catholic Cemeteries that form part of the Heads Road complex. On 26 February 1915, the Trustees signed the agreement that the cemetery be closed; this was the last entry in their Minute Book.
Variations to the Cemetery Closure
Pressure from people who wished to be interred alongside their relations at the main cemetery began almost as soon as the cemetery was closed. The Cemeteries Act 1908 had set out the rights of relatives to be buried in a closed cemetery. Husbands/wives, fathers/mothers, brothers/sisters were all entitled to be buried alongside their relatives and many were, especially during the 1920s and 1930s.
However, Charles Burnett was moved to take action against the Cemetery trustees when he discovered in 1916 that he would not be able to use the plot he had been encouraged to purchase before the closure. Burnett considered the £15 he had paid for this plot was 'the most expensive land purchase I have yet been guilty of' and comments that he was not told that 'either a member of my family or myself had to depart this life immediately' in order to qualify to hold the land. He asked for his money back and instructed his solicitors to act for himself and others in this matter.
Others took a different route to ensure they could be buried at the main cemetery. The first Modifying Order in Council Closing Wanganui Cemetery was gazetted on 8 Feb 1916 and named 10 people who could be buried at the cemetery, together with their relations. Those listed included William Wilkins, the sexton, and Nicholas Meuli, builder of the Opera House and Collegiate School. A further Modifying Order was gazetted on 15 Feb 1916 to allow Edward Liffiton, ex Mayor, to be buried in the cemetery. Even as late as 1969, Mrs Dorothy Earle and Mrs Ann Earle were granted permission to be buried in the cemetery; although widows of men buried in the Earle family plot, they were not directly related to the original family member buried there.
In 2000, local solicitor John Tripe first contacted the District Council to seek formal reopening of the main cemetery . Following the death of Ted Britton, a local businessman, and his expressed desire to be buried at the cemetery, in June 2001 the Community Services Committee resolved to apply to the Minister of Health to reopen the cemetery. This proposal was notified and on 18 April 2002 the Reopening of Heads Road Cemetery Order was published in the NZ Gazette. The cemetery was reopened from 26 April 2002 for burials of those 'who are descendants of persons buried in the cemetery, provided there is sufficient room to accommodate the extra burial within the existing plot'.
Jewish Cemetery Developments
On 3 June 1902, an agreement was prepared between Messrs JH Keesing and I Salek, representing the Jewish Community, and Wanganui Borough Council by which the unused part of the Jewish cemetery reserve was to be handed over to the Council. This was formalized in 1903 when it became a municipal reserve and in 1904 when it was vested in the Borough Council. The agreement also required the Council to set aside an area for a future Jewish cemetery in the event that a new cemetery was to be established for Wanganui.
By 1950 the Wellington Hebrew Congregation became concerned about the state of the Wanganui Jewish cemetery. By this time, the Jewish community in Wanganui was much reduced in size. In 1956 the Commissioner of Crown Lands asked the City Council to take over responsibility for the Jewish cemetery, which the Council declined. The Wellington Hebrew Congregation then assumed responsibility for the cemetery and advised the Commissioner that it had no objection to the unused portion being used for commercial purposes. By this time, the unused portion was overgrown with boxthorn and had to be cleared before the sexton could investigate to ascertain whether there were any graves in this part of the cemetery reserve. This work was done by January 1957, when the grave of Abraham Goldsmid was uncovered. Following further investigations during 1957, the remains of Mr Goldsmid were moved to the used part of the cemetery on 20 February 1958.
On 22 May 1959, the Commissioner of Crown Lands advised the Town Clerk that the Wellington Hebrew Congregation no longer wished to have responsibility for the Jewish cemetery. The City Council was asked to take on this responsibility with reference being made to the 1902 agreement (see above), but once again declined. However, the City Council did recommend that the unused portion of the cemetery should be transferred to the Transport Department or leased with revenue going towards cemetery maintenance. The site was eventually transferred to the Transport Department where the vehicle testing station is now located. In June 1961, the remaining portion of the Jewish cemetery was declared a public reserve, now known as Section 545 (formerly part of Reserve E), Town of Wanganui.
During the early 1960s, descendants of those buried in the Jewish cemetery wrote a number of letters to the Town Clerk expressing their concern over the state of the cemetery. The inability of the City Council to take responsibility for the cemetery continued to frustrate the Department of Lands and Survey. On 8 March 1967, the Commissioner of Crown Lands wrote to the Town Clerk noting that 'progress has been hindered by the unusual method of administration of this cemetery'. While the land had now been declared a public reserve, it had never been vested in any local authority or trustees and the Department had no powers under the Burials and Cremations Act 1964 to deal with the cemetery. The Commissioner gave 'considerable thought to the best way of dealing with the situation' and proposed that the 1964 Act provisions should be used to clear the headstones, replace them with a common memorial and grass the land to make future maintenance easier. The Department was prepared to pay for this work to be done provided the City Council would agree to accept vesting of the cemetery reserve and take on its future administration. The City Council finally agreed and work began on planning the clearance of the cemetery and design of a memorial.
The Jewish cemetery was officially closed by means of the Wanganui Jewish Cemetery Closing and Clearance Order 1968 that vested control and management of Section 545 with Wanganui City Council (see Appendix 1e of the registration report). The memorial was designed by Anderson Memorials in Wanganui, engraved with the names of those known to have been buried in the Jewish cemetery and finally put in position in 1969. (See Appendix 3b of the registration report, photograph 5).
In September 2004 vandals attacked the Jewish cemetery memorial, breaking part of the stone but not defacing the lettering on the memorial itself. This act of vandalism occurred at a time when a number of Jewish monuments in New Zealand were under attack; the memorial was quickly repaired and reconsecrated on 1 November 2004.
The Catholic Cemetery
The history of the Catholic cemetery differs from the Jewish one in several respects: it was never consecrated, has never been officially closed and retains many original headstones.
Although set aside as a burial ground for Catholics in 1853 when Bishop Viard received a Special Grant, no 77 , for one acre of land, this part of Heads Road Cemetery was not consecrated. This is not unusual, in that no Catholic cemeteries in New Zealand were consecrated for burials. Unfortunately, no early church records exist relating to the establishment of the Catholic cemetery, although the Parish Burial Register indicates that it was in active use, especially for burials of soldiers and their family members, during the 1850s and 1860s. A photograph shows the Catholic cemetery with a neat picket fence surrounding the entire area, indicating that it was well managed at this time (c1860s-1870s). The Catholic cemetery is also shown in the 1863 plan included in the Cemetery Trustees Minute Book, indicating that it was then in active use.
The Catholic cemetery is mentioned in the Crown Grant 6160 dated 15 July 1880 which refers to this as the area marked as 'f' within Reserve L of the Town of Wanganui. The cemetery was the responsibility of St Mary's Parish in Wanganui, never coming under the auspices of the Trustees of the General Cemetery, and was not included in the 1914 closure order for the Wanganui General Cemetery (see Appendix 1a of the registration report).
By 1920, the Catholic cemetery was 'in a rather neglected condition' as noted by Edith Statham of the Department of Internal Affairs. By April 1936, the cemetery was 'about full' and the parish priest contacted Archbishop O'Shea in Wellington to 'again mention the idea of handing it over to the Council' as he considered 'with the present Council I have a big chance of them taking it and it would relieve this Parish of a burden in the future'. The Archbishop replied on 1 May 1936 that there would be no objection to the City Council taking on the Catholic cemetery. In response to Fr Hoare's query about title to the cemetery land, the Archbishop responded that their Chancery appears to have never held the Deeds to the cemetery. Subsequently it was suggested that the Archbishop should apply to the Commissioner of Crown Lands for a certificate of title for the cemetery.
No action appears to have taken place until 1969 when the Diocesan solicitors applied to the District Land Registrar to have title to the cemetery vested in the church. This resulted in the District Land Registrar authorising what he described as 'extensive inquiry and research into both Head Office and District Office records of the Land Transfer Office and the Lands and Survey Department extending back to 1853'. Research undertaken by ML Larsen provides important background information about the Catholic cemetery , including the 1853 Special Grant, and enabled the District Land Registrar to determine that the status of the land was that of unalienated Crown land. On 4 December 1970, the Commissioner of Crown Lands decided that the land known as Reserve F should now be formally reserved for a denominational burial ground and vested in trust with the Roman Catholic Archbishop. The Director-General of Lands agreed and recommended to the Minister of Lands that this vesting should be gazetted. In his 1971 Minutes, the Director-General noted that 'the Catholic Cemetery is not Crown land but a Public Reserve by virtue of the fact that it is shown as such on the original survey plans of the Statutory Authority being the Royal Instructions of 1840 and the New Zealand Company plan'. The Gazette notice was published on 20 May 1971 declaring Reserve F, Town of Wanganui to be a public reserve for the purpose of a cemetery for members of the Roman Catholic faith and was vested with the Archdiocese of Wellington, with reference to Plan 11573 (see Appendix 4c of the registration report). A Certificate of Title 26A/788 was issued on 29 June 1984 and the vesting of the cemetery reserve was subsequently transferred to the Bishop of the Diocese of Palmerston North (see Appendix 1c of the registration report).
By 1987, the parish was negotiating to gift the cemetery to the City Council. At this time, burials were still taking place in family plots and the parish had been organizing working bees to clear the cemetery from the overgrowth of bracken and blackberry. The transfer to the City Council was completed the following year when the vesting with the Archdiocese of Wellington was cancelled and Reserve F was vested with Wanganui City Council, as notified in NZ Gazette 2 June 1988 (see Appendix 1d of the registration report). In 1989, Mrs PH Kaveney donated $700 to enable the City Council to purchase 70 flowering cherry trees that were planted in the oldest part of the cemetery (see Appendix 3b of the registration report, photograph 1).
Soldiers' Graves
The main cemetery contains the graves of at least 17 soldiers who died during the New Zealand Wars, from wounds, drowning or illness, with a further 27 men buried in the Catholic cemetery, although only two of these graves are marked. The condition of the soldiers' graves in Wanganui was first assessed by the Department of Internal Affairs Inspector, Miss Edith Statham, in February 1915. Miss Statham had been appointed Inspector of Soldiers' Graves in 1913, having previously been secretary of the Victoria League graves committee in Auckland.
While in Wanganui on that first visit, Miss Statham met with the Mayor, Town Clerk, chairman of the Cemetery Trustees (Peter Bell), Sexton (William Wilkins), James Burnet (then Tongariro Lodge Grand Master), the Catholic priest and Anglican vicar as well as the local Scout master, who was encouraged to get the Scouts to clean up some of the graves. A full report on the condition of the known graves was sent to James Hislop, Under Secretary, Department of Internal Affairs on 18 February 1915, together with a request that the Department should consider funding the renovation of a number of the headstones. Miss Statham was subsequently asked to obtain an estimate of the cost from Mr AP Anderson, the monumental mason in Wanganui; this amounted to £46 18s 9d and was approved by the Minister of Internal Affairs on 22 May 1915.
By early July 1915 the renovation of the soldiers' graves was under way. This involved recutting inscriptions (with research to ascertain some of the details, especially for the headstone of the shoeing smiths Laycock and Barnet and the Unknown Soldier), lifting the stones and placing them on concrete slabs. This latter task was a requirement of the Borough Council who agreed to take on the responsibility for maintaining the graves, Miss Statham having decided that her initial plan for the Boy Scouts to do this work was a 'most unsatisfactory arrangement'.
In September 1919, the local Society of St Vincent de Paul requested, via Mr WA Veitch, MP, that a monument should be erected at the Catholic cemetery to all the soldiers buried there in unmarked graves. The Department of Internal Affairs was not keen to fund the erection of such a monument at this time but asked Miss Statham for her view on the matter. Miss Statham again visited Wanganui in December 1920 and recommended that a marble cross could be erected at the Catholic cemetery and the names of the soldiers engraved on the base. However, no such memorial was erected at the cemetery; the names of all but one of the soldiers are commemorated on the Soldiers' Monument now located at the base of the Veterans' Steps in Queen's Park, Wanganui.
In 1990, the Department of Internal Affairs commissioned historian, Jim D'Ath, to report on three of the soldiers' graves, those of Jason Hassard of the 57th Regiment and Octavius Lawson and George Jenkins of the 18th Royal Irish Regiment. The Department subsequently spent $10,000 on refurbishing 14 headstones, this work being completed by August 1996.
Today the Ministry for Culture and Heritage's Heritage Operations Unit is responsible for the care in perpetuity of the graves of military casualties from the New Zealand Wars. The Ministry also has responsibility for the graves of those who died as a result of the two World Wars of the 20th century. There are five 'true war graves' from WWI at Heads Road Cemetery, two of them in the Catholic cemetery, and these graves are inspected every two years together with those relating to the New Zealand Wars and refurbished as and when necessary.
The Morgue
The brick building on the northern ridge of the main cemetery was constructed in 1930 as a morgue. The architect was Harry Herbert Stroud of the City Engineer's Department and the contractor AG Bignell. Two sets of plans exist for the morgue. The first were dated 8 October 1928 while those that depict the building actually constructed are dated 1 July 1930 and countersigned by AG Bignell, the contractor, on 6 August 1930. The contract price for the building was £298. (See Appendix 2c of the registration report for plan).
The previous morgue was located on the corner of Taupo Quay and Heads Road. Cemetery Trustees had discussed the need for a mortuary chapel at the cemetery during the 1870s , but no further reference is found in the Trustees Minutes relating to any such building, although it may have been the building referred to on 9 September 1896. By July 1928, the Medical Officer of Health had condemned the old morgue as being in a deplorable condition, noting that 'the building is totally unsuitable for the purpose for which it is used and I must ask your Council to take immediate steps to replace it with a more modern and convenient structure'. The City Council acted on the matter and by September 1928 made application to the Department of Internal Affairs to erect a new public morgue within the boundaries of the cemetery. The application letter notes that the 'proposed location for the morgue is quite the best available, being only shortly distant from the present site...and accessible from all parts of the City'. However, because the location of the proposed morgue was on reserve land, it was subject to legislation. Clause 14 of the Local Legislation Act 1929 enabled the City Council to erect the morgue on a portion of the Cemetery Reserve. The Wanganui Hospital Board was delighted to learn that the 'Council intends to erect a Mortuary in keeping with the demands of a city the size of Wanganui'.
The hospital morgue, probably also built in the 1930s, now serves as the main morgue for Wanganui. The morgue at the cemetery is leased for storage but is retained for use as a back-up morgue in the event of a pandemic or other disaster.
Tangiwai
The cemetery morgue became a focus of attention following the Tangiwai rail disaster on Christmas Eve 1953. Farmers and their families all along the Whangaehu River valley from Field's Track down to Mangamahu and Kauangaroa played an important role in retrieving bodies of victims which were then brought to Wanganui for identification before transshipment back up to Waiouru. The role of the Mangamahu farmers in this tragedy is little known outside Wanganui; families gave up their Christmas and Boxing Day celebrations to take part in the massive search, working alongside police and Search and Rescue volunteers. At Kauangaroa marae, Gray Matthews organized some 30-40 young Maori men to patrol the river; in doing so he gave up the opportunity of going to Rotorua to meet the Queen.
Of the 131 bodies eventually retrieved, 62 were found by Wanganui people and processed through the cemetery morgue as well as the nearby newly built Army Drill Hall that was commissioned as a temporary morgue once the scale of the disaster became clear. The impact of the police traffic in and around the morgue on Boxing Day meant the Cemetery Circuit motorcycle race had to be stopped for the only time in its history (it was to have been stopped in the early afternoon as the enormity of the tragedy became clear, although the wet weather that day also hampered racing, according to the newspaper report).
Cemetery Circuit
The motorcycle race known as the 'Cemetery Circuit' started in 1951 when, for the first time in New Zealand, public streets were closed off for motor racing. Practice runs were held that first Boxing Day with the actual races held the following day (27 December 1951). Wanganui motorcyclist, Rod Coleman, was the instigator of the event that was conducted by the Wanganui Sports Motor-cycle Club. From the beginning, the Cemetery Circuit has attracted competitors of standing; the first event attracted three world-class contestants and one world record holder. The Boxing Day event has grown over the years, now attracting crowds in excess of 10,000. Although the term 'cemetery circuit' was used by the Wanganui Chronicle to describe the first event in 1951, the usual name given to the races in the early years was 'Round the Houses'.
The Cemetery Circuit is an important part of Wanganui's sporting history, having been held for more than 50 years on the same circuit. Stopped only once in 1953, as the enormity of the Tangwai disaster became clear, and not held for 3 years between 1963-1965, due to a proposal to put through a motorway, it has become the oldest continuously used motorsport venue in New Zealand.
The race circuit begins (and ends) on Ridgway Street, going along Wilson Street, Taupo Quay, Heads Road, Guyton Street, and back to Ridgway Street. The circuit does not bisect the cemetery but there are management issues relating to the event and its impact on the cemetery (for further information see Appendix 7 of the registration report).
Heritage Interest
The Wanganui Old Cemetery Heritage Walk was published in July 1997 as one of the Heritage Trails in and around Wanganui. The heritage trail was researched and compiled in 1996 by Historical Society and Historic Places Trust Branch Committee members, June and Randal Springer and Judith Crawley.
Guided walks around the cemetery are organized upon request; prior to his death in 2004, Randal Springer was a popular guide as he had a particular interest in the soldiers' graves and had been researching Wanganui's military history for a number of years. More recently, the Whanganui Branch of the Historic Places Trust has organised guided walks around the cemetery; for example, a Cemetery Walk was included in the March 2006 programme for the Artists Open Studios Weekends that proved to be very popular.
Family historians are frequent visitors to the cemetery. People come to Wanganui from other parts of New Zealand as well as abroad to research their family, usually combining research at the Alexander Library and the Regional Museum with a visit to Heads Road.
Local people have shown concern and interest for the cemetery on a number of occasions. The proposal in 1999 by local photographer, John Souter, to remove the cupola commemorating Joseph Hart, an aerated water manufacturer, was greeted with protests from many in the community. Souter wished to relocate the cupola at Kowhai Park to serve as a birdcall station. The Mayor, Chas Poynter, intervened and the decision was taken that the cupola should remain at the Cemetery. In 2001, the Scots pines on the ridge alongside Ridgway Street were to be felled. Again, local people had concerns about this as the pines are a distinctive part of the cemetery landscape; the proposal to fell the trees was reversed.
The development of a 'Friends' group for the cemetery began in 1978 under the auspices of the Whanganui Historical Society. Local historian, Athol Kirk, was chairman of the group that encouraged the erection of headstones on important unmarked graves. The Friends were responsible for arranging a headstone for William Hogg Watt and his wife in 1979; Wanganui's first Mayor had no headstone erected after his death in 1893. While the Historical Society and Historic Places Trust Branch Committee encouraged the renovation of headstones over the ensuing years, the 'Friends' group itself did not develop any further as an independent body. Proposals from the Historic Places Trust Branch Committee to re-establish a Friends group in 2005 received a warm response, with a number of people attending the first working bee in October 2006.
