In 1876 land was set aside for a
cemetery at Waikomiti (the spelling was officially changed to Waikumete in
1898) in the need to find an alternative site for Auckland’s overcrowded
Grafton Cemetery which was considered to be inappropriately located. The
railway line was completed from Newmarket to Waikomiti in 1880 and roads were
laid out to improve access to the cemetery in 1884. In 1885 tree planting was
carried out and the cemetery was fenced to prevent grazing stock from entering
it.
The cemetery was officially opened on the 17th of April 1886. Infant William Appleby Tye was interred on the morning the cemetery opened and William Hibbs Long in the afternoon. The first burial recorded was that of Florence Lena Bell aged 14 months, on the 14th March 1886, prior to the cemetery opening. 299 burials were recorded in the first year of the cemetery's operation.
A sexton’s house, assistant sexton’s
house, and Mortuary chapel were all completed by May 1886 and the Jewish
community built a Jewish Prayer house in the same year that the cemetery was
opened.
The railway was the main means of transporting deceased to the cemetery in funeral carriages marked with a white cross, mourners would travel on the same train in ordinary carriages. It is said that the funeral trains went by a variety of names including the "Cemetery Train", the “Funeral Freight” and "the Final Stop".
A regular Sunday train catered for weekend cemetery visitors who would travel to Glen Eden Station from Auckland city in the morning and return on the afternoon train after spending the day tending the graves of loved ones and picnicking. The rail guards called the Sunday run ‘the perfume run’ as the carriages were filled with the fragrance of floral tributes bound for the cemetery.
The sexton met the funeral train at the station to transfer the deceased from the carriage for the funeral service often taking the casket up the steep incline into the cemetery and directly to the grave site by wheel-barrow.
Management:
The Auckland Council appointed the
sexton and the assistant sexton who managed the cemetery and carried out varied
duties including bell ringing, receiving bodies, digging graves and maintaining
the cemetery grounds as well as forming paths and roads, and clearing land for
burial areas.
Sextons:
W.E. Walker - 1886 - 1901
Herman Erickson - 1901 - 1921
W.A. Kirkpatrick - 1921 - 1934
Thomas Sissons - 1934 - 1939
H. A. Lawson - 1939 - 1947
Alf McBurney - 1947 - 1968
Tom Brown - 1970 – 1986
Cemetery Managers:
Bill Graham - 1985 - 1995
Clifton Thompson - 1995 - 1998
Graham Resnick - 1998 -
Daniel Sales
Roscoe Webb - 2013 - 2017
As the cemetery grew, the Sextons role continued to evolve and a restructure saw the first Cemetery Manager appointed in 1985. Waikumete Cemetery is currently under the management of a temporary manager while further restructuring is being considered. Sheree Stout has been the head sexton since 2015, she works with a team of sextons her main responsibilities are carrying out cremations, organising burial services with families, and digging graves. Lawn and gardening maintenance is carried out by the Auckland Council’s City Park Services team.
Dwellings
The sexton’s house a kauri clad villa was built by E, Heron for £297 the old Glen Eden Railway Station on the corner of what is now Waikumete Rd and Old Chapel way, where it still stands on the cemetery grounds. The office had become a 4th bedroom and in 1919 the house had a new office added to it.
The sexton’s house a kauri clad villa was built by E, Heron for £297 the old Glen Eden Railway Station on the corner of what is now Waikumete Rd and Old Chapel way, where it still stands on the cemetery grounds. The office had become a 4th bedroom and in 1919 the house had a new office added to it.
The assistant sexton’s house was a smaller 2 bedroomed house also built by E Heron and believed to have been North East of the sexton’s house on Glenview Rd. It burnt down in 1918.
From 1914 – 1918 many improvements were being carried out at the cemetery and a foreman’s cottage was moved onto the cemetery grounds from 109 Beach Rd, Auckland in 1917 for the use of the foreman in charge of the improvements. It was erected South East of the sexton’s house and South of the assistant sexton’s house at the junction of what is now Waikumete and Glenview Rds. In 1979 it was moved where it is currently privately rented at 6 Glenview Rd near where the assistant sextons house was situated to allow room for a new fire station.
Mortuary Chapel
The gothic style mortuary chapel was designed by H G Wade and built in the form of a Greek cross, it is double cavity brick with a Welsh slate roof. It was used solely as as a mortuary chapel up until November 1886 when residents requested it be used for church services. Services were however suspended when the chapel was required for funerals. The chapel was in use until 1926. It was to later store 1800 ashes moved from their columbarium niches when the old crematorium was demolished in 1969. The condition of the building deteriorated quickly and after interring those ashes urns that had not been claimed by families in 3 large concrete vaults adjacent to the chapel in 1978, a group of residents formed a restoration trust with support from local city and borough councils to restore and maintain the chapel. The trust was given a management lease for 33 years. Restoration was completed in 1986 and the chapel was named “The Chapel of Faith in the Oaks”.
The historic chapel underwent extensive restoration by Architecture & conservation limited to upgrade it to seismic standards and restore damage to the roof floor and walls due to ground movement and water penetration and after being closed for a prolonged period it reopened on the 5th October 2010.
Jewish Prayer house
The Tahara house or Jewish prayer house
was built of kauri in 1886 by T.H. Jones it cost 100 pounds.
It was situated on the North East
corner of the old Hebrew area. The first burial service was for Mr F.H Lewisson
on the 15th of June 1887. The prayer house was maintained by
the Jewish Benevolent Society Chevra Kadisha and was used for burial services
for 106 years. Repeated vandalism in its later years was costly to repair and
the prayer house was scheduled for demolition. However it was saved and removed
from the cemetery on 3rd July 1992 the day before this was due
to be carried out to be repurposed as an implement shed at the Hoani Watiti
Marae. It was purchased by the Oratia Cemetery Trust and moved to the Oratia
Cemetery 4 months later where it was restored and remains today.
A new octagonal designed Jewish prayer
house was built at Waikumete within the new Jewish burial area in 1990.
Returned Service Persons Area
This area was laid out in 1917 and
changed the style of the cemetery with its winding paths and informal planting.
A grand entrance was constructed on the corner of what is now Great North and
Glenview Roads providing a special feature. The gates that stand here were
brought from Auckland’s Victoria Park. The cenotaph was built in 1921 as a
memorial to honour those who sacrificed their lives in the first World War 1914
-1918. In 1963 a memorial was constructed adjacent to the cenotaph in memory of
the 57 service men of the Auckland Province who sacrificed their lives for
their country during the 1st and second world wars who have no
known graves. The Returned Services Association improved the war graves with
the assistance of a subsidy from the Auckland City Council in 1929. And in 1961
a Gallipoli ‘Lone Pine’ seedling was planted by the Returned Services
Association in remembrance of the fallen.
Crematoria
Requests for a public crematorium in
Auckland began as early as 1909, the council decided not to act on them. Following
the influenza epidemic of 1918 hygiene became a concern and the country
underwent health reforms with Auckland being a focus. One of the areas being
looked into was burial practices and the Auckland Cremation Society took the
opportunity to campaign once again for a public crematorium and although no
widely accepted the practice of cremation was seriously considered. Despite
community protest and concerns from residents about the effects of the close proximity
of the crematoriums proposed construction to homes, building of Auckland’s
crematorium went ahead in 1922, and was completed in December. The crematorium
was situated close to Glenview Rd East of what is now Freesia Rd and Sarona
Ave, and built by Charles Walter Ravenhall at a cost of £2499 2s 10d. The
furnace and furnace floor were later installed bringing the cost to a total of
£3,486 1s 3d. The charge for cremation was £4 4s 5d and the first
cremation was carried out on 15th Aug 1923. In 1935 an oil fired furnace was
installed to replace the old coke and wood fired furnace which was in disrepair
and an underground fuel storage tank was installed at the side of the building
with a 500 gallon capacity. The new furnace reduced the cremation time from 1 ½
hours to 40 minutes from start up, and the plant operated silently with minimal
emissions.
A new crematorium was built on the
current site at the main entrance on Great North Rd and opened in 1953. There
were several delays in its construction due to shortages of materials and
permits for the second chapel, office, rest room and columbarium areas not
being approved. The second chapel was completed in 1954 and a temporary office
was erected on the lawn. Operations at the old crematorium were ceased with the
opening of the new one and the furnaces were dismantled in 1959. In August 1967
the old crematorium was assessed as requiring a new concrete floor, roof,
rafters and window frames, an engineer’s report quoted a costly sum for
restoration and it was demolished in 1969. Evidence of the old crematorium buildings
foundations remain beneath the pohutakawa trees opposite service persons area G.
Fire and Water
Fire raged through almost 100 acres of
Waikumete’s 200 acre pine plantation damaging and destroying around 40,000
trees in 1929. It also caused damage and destruction to grave markers. In 1970
fire struck again destroying 20 acres of scrub and forest.
Land was removed from the cemetery for
a water reservoir, and excavations for the 5,000,000 gallon concrete
construction began on Waikumete Hill in August 1963.
Burial Areas
The earliest burial areas were laid out
in a grid pattern in sections according to religious denominations.
The first Lawn and berm burials took
place in 1951. In 1956 the cemetery decided to plan all future burial areas in
free lawn and berms, following a recommendation from the Director of Parks Mr
J.A. McPherspon.
In 1975 Machinery was procured to
excavate graves mechanically.
In recognition of the importance of the
species of plants that were planted in and around graves which have become
naturalised in the heritage areas. A wildflower sanctuary was set aside over a
one hectare area in the South East corner of the cemetery in 1993 in
collaboration with community representatives.
Muslim burial areas were opened in 1965, 1991, 2002 and a Liberal Muslim
area in 1991. Hebrew B was consecrated on 6 Kislev 5737 the 6 November 1976.
And on the 23rd day of November 1977 a holocaust memorial
was erected in memory of the six million Jewish men, women and children who
lost their lives proir to and during WW2 as victims of Nazi Genocide. Ashes
recovered from the crematorium in Auschwitz in 1946 were interred at the base
of the memorial.
In 1996 a public Urupa was established
to provide a burial place for Maori who have lost connections with iwi, or are
unable to return to their turangawaeawae. An Eco Burial area has recently come
to fruition and is currently under development.
There are over 90,000 deceased from all
walks of life recorded as residing at Waikumete Cemetery. Including Service men and women,
pioneers, well known identities, and family members who are all citizens of our
community. More than 90,000 life stories lie within.
 |
| Chapel of Faith In The Oaks. Photo credit Cathy Currie. |
Sources:
Waikumete Cemetery Book History Part 2
Waikumete Cemetery Book History Part 3
Waikumete Cemetery Book History Part 9
Auckland Council Archives Works Department Subject files ACC 219/20-183
Waikumete Cemetery, part 4, 1965-1989
Waikumete Cemetery Burial Books Auckland City Council.
You can't be afraid of ghosts to be a grave digger. http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2017/03/grave-digger-reveals-toughest-part-of-burying-people.html#.WNl4Zbvv6wk.facebook
Bryder Linda, Lessons of the 1918 influenza epidemic in Auckland, University of Auckland
Hutchins Graham, Last Train to Paradise: Journeys from the Golden Age of New Zealand Railways https://books.google.co.nz/books?id=zi-p9h8aVYAC&pg=PA82&lpg=PA82&dq=perfume+run+waikumete+cemetery&source=bl&ots=MvOiY3em9p&sig=vUQbDgYBskBvIj2lXkAb0CpnDLc&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiM2qqviKLXAhVHpJQKHdwqDaYQ6AEIJjAA#v=onepage&q=perfume%20run%20waikumete%20cemetery&f=false
Sheeran Ben, Waikumete Cemetery Summary report Version 1.3 January 2017
Vela Pauline, In those days: an oral history of Glen Eden, Glen Eden Borough Council, 1989
https://www.archifact.co.nz/chapel-of-faith-in-the-oaks-auckland/
the person in RC division B Row 1 Plot 11 is definitely Prcevich Nikola from Brijesta Croatia former (Austria)
ReplyDeleteThanking you very much for this information, it is very much appreciated & have adjusted the records accordingly.
ReplyDelete