Southern Cemetery, Dunedin
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The Southern Cemetery in the New Zealand city of
Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...
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. This area lies at the southern end of
Princes Street Princes Street ( gd, Sràid nam Prionnsan) is one of the major thoroughfares in central Edinburgh, Scotland and the main shopping street in the capital. It is the southernmost street of Edinburgh's New Town, stretching around 1.2 km (three ...
, one of the city's main streets, close to the suburbs of
Kensington Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West End of London, West of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up b ...
,
Maryhill Maryhill ( gd, Cnoc Màiri) is an area of the City of Glasgow in Scotland. Maryhill is a former burgh. Maryhill stretches over along Maryhill Road. The far north west of the area is served by Maryhill railway station. History Hew Hill, t ...
, and The Glen (part of Caversham).


Description

The cemetery covers an area of some , and is one of the most important nineteenth-century cemeteries in New Zealand. It is sited on a steeply sloping site on a spur at the southern end of the central city, overlooking "The Flat", the area of coastal plain on which the suburbs of
South Dunedin South Dunedin is a major inner city suburb of the New Zealand city of Dunedin. It is located, as its name suggests, to the south of the city centre, on part of a large plain known locally simply as "The Flat". The suburb is a mix of industrial ...
and Saint Kilda are located. It is divided into separate sections set aside for
Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...
s,
Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...
s, and
Roman catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
s, as well as a
Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
section. The cemetery was opened in early 1858, with the earliest recorded interment being that of John MacGibbon in March 1858.Background notes for the Southern Cemetery
, ''cemeteries.org.nz'', retrieved 30 July 2017.
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 The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) is an intergovernmental organisation of six independent member states whose principal function is to mark, record and maintain the graves and places of commemoration of Commonwealth of Nations mil ...
, 20 from World War I and one from World War II. The cemetery is listed on the New Zealand Historic Places Trust Register as a Historic Place – Category I. The cemetery includes, at its city end, a historic
mortuary A morgue or mortuary (in a hospital or elsewhere) is a place used for the storage of human corpses awaiting identification (ID), removal for autopsy, respectful burial, cremation or other methods of disposal. In modern times, corpses have cus ...
building, which was used from 1903 to 1949. 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); Dunedin's main cemetery is at
Andersons Bay Andersons Bay (sometimes spelt in the grammatically correct former form Anderson's Bay, and often known locally simply as "Andy Bay") is a suburb of the New Zealand city of Dunedin. It is located in the southeast of the city's urban area, sout ...
in the south of the city.


Jewish section

The Jewish portion of the cemetery is located close to South Road in the lower part of the cemetery, and contains around 180 burials, with the earliest being from 1863. A large proportion of New Zealand's early Jewish immigrants are buried in the cemetery's Jewish section, with members of many of New Zealand's more notable Jewish families – including the Hallensteins, Theomins, Joels, and De Beers – among those interred.


Chinese section

The 1860s saw a major influx of people into the city due to the
Central Otago Gold Rush The Otago Gold Rush (often called the Central Otago Gold Rush) was a gold rush that occurred during the 1860s in Central Otago, New Zealand. This was the country's biggest gold strike, and led to a rapid influx of foreign miners to the area – ...
, including a large number of
Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...
from
Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...
; a separate Chinese section to the cemetery was added in the years that followed. The section was designated separate not on ethnic grounds, but due to religious affiliation, as with the other sections of the cemetery, and has some features which are built according to feng shui practice.From a notice at the Dunedin Southern Cemetery Up to 200 Chinese burials are thought to have taken place between 1877 and 1921, of which 114 have been identified, with the majority of those interred having originally come from around the
Pearl River Delta The Pearl River Delta Metropolitan Region (PRD; ; pt, Delta do Rio das Pérolas (DRP)) is the low-lying area surrounding the Pearl River estuary, where the Pearl River flows into the South China Sea. Referred to as the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Mac ...
. Other interments, including several from the
Panyu District Panyu, alternately romanized as Punyu, is one of 11 urban districts of the prefecture-level city of Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong Province, China. It was a separate county-level city before its incorporation into modern Guangzhou in 200 ...
, were exhumed in the 1880s and early 1900s at the behest of the
Poon Fah Association Poon may refer to: * The Calophyllum, also known as the "''Poon Tree''" * Poon (surname), an East Asian surname * ''Po-on'' (novel), a novel by Filipino author F. Sionil José * Poon (county), a former county in Kwangtung (Guangdong), China O ...
, in order to return the dead to their ancestral soil in China.


Notable interments

* Thomas Burns * Captain William Cargill *
Henry Clapcott Henry Clapcott (28 November 1830 – 19 September 1897) was a New Zealand businessman and politician. Early life Clapcott was born on 28 November and baptised 22 December 1830 in Tarrant Keyneston, Dorset, England, the fourth son of George Bunte ...
(1830–1897), treasurer of the Otago Provincial Council (1864–65) * Willi Fels *
Hugh Gourley Hugh Gourley (1825 – 16 December 1906) was a New Zealand politician born in Ireland. He was Mayor of Dunedin on two occasions and then appointed to the New Zealand Legislative Council for one seven-year term. Early life Gourley was born in ...
(1825–1906) *
Bendix Hallenstein Bendix Hallenstein (c. 24 January 1835 – 6 January 1905) was a German-born Jewish merchant, statesman, and manufacturer from Dunedin, New Zealand. He is best known for founding the retail clothing store Hallensteins, which still bears his name ...
*
Maurice Joel Maurice Joel (1829 – 13 November 1907) was a prominent brewer and public figure in Dunedin, New Zealand. Joel was born in North Shields, in northern England, one of seven children of Prussian-born Trytle Joel and his wife Jane Grace Joel (née ...
* Johnny Jones * Leopold Kirschner *
William Downie Stewart William Downie Stewart may refer to: *William Downie Stewart Sr (1842–1898), member of House of Representatives for City of Dunedin and Dunedin West *William Downie Stewart Jr William Downie Stewart (29 July 1878 – 29 September 1949) was a ...
* Dorothy Theomin * Prince Konstanty Alojzy Drucki-Lubecki


References


Further reading

*


External links


Dunedin City Council Cemeteries
* {{Find a Grave cemetery Southern Cemetery Jewish New Zealand history Heritage New Zealand Category 1 historic places in Otago Jewish cemeteries