Dunedin Southern Cemetery

Dunedin Southern Cemetery

William Cargill's gravestone in Dunedin Southern Cemetery.
Details
Year established	1858
Country	New Zealand
Location	Princes Street, Dunedin
Number of graves	23,000

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^[update] 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.

The cemetery is listed on the New Zealand Historic Places Trust Register as a Historic Place - Category I.^[4]

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

Notable interments

• Captain William Cargill
• Thomas Burns
• Johnny Jones
• Dorothy Theomin
• Bendix Hallenstein
• William Downie Stewart.

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. http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/51568/trust-impressed-restoration-chinese-graves. Retrieved 29 September 2011. 
3. ^ http://www.jewishgen.org/cemetery/asia-pac-ind/newzealand.html
4. ^ "Southern Cemetery". Register of Historic Places. New Zealand Historic Places Trust. http://www.historic.org.nz/TheRegister/RegisterSearch/RegisterResults.aspx?RID=7657&m=advanced. Retrieved 25 September 2011. 

See also

• Burials at Dunedin Southern Cemetery

External links

• Dunedin City Council Cemeteries

Coordinates: 45°53′24″S 170°29′37″E / 45.8899°S 170.4937°E / -45.8899; 170.4937