Fact sheets
Background notes for the
Southern
Cemetery
It is suggested that one or two the following fact sheets are printed out
and used as wall or poster displays or laminate and make available for
students.
The fact sheets in this set include
1. Dunedin’s First Cemetery.
2. The Southern Cemetery – Historical photographs.
3. The Southern Cemetery.
4. The First Burial in the Southern Cemetery.
5. The Sexton’s Job.
6. The Morgue.
At the cemetery: Background Fact Sheet
Dunedin’s First Cemetery
Plaque and
memorial in
Arthur Street
Above: Arthur Street Cemetery, Dunedin by George Moore Sinclair, (b 1852)
Nov. 1880. The watercolour shows the cemetery in the foreground, with houses
beyond. Arthur Street, Rattray Street and York Place can be seen.
Alexander Turnbull Library Reference number: B-062-020. Permission of the Alexander
Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.
Dunedin’s first cemetery was a reserve of approximately six
hectares in Arthur Street. The first burial occurred in 1846. The
cemetery was in use until its replacement, the Southern Cemetery
was opened in 1858.
The cemetery fell
into some disrepair
after closure for
burials. In 1880 the
monument pictured
below was erected
by the Dunedin City
Corporation and
records the names
of the first settlers
that were interred in
this cemetery. The
monument stands to
this day on the
ground next to
Arthur Street School.
At the cemetery: Background Fact Sheet
The Southern Cemetery, Dunedin - Historical Photographs
The Southern Cemetery opened on 1 April 1858. The
earliest recorded burial was for John MacGibbon in March
1858. (See the fact sheet that follows this one).
Edward Immyns Abbot, [d 1849] Dunedin from Little Paisley. London. Published by
Fredk J Wilson, 21 Gt Russell St, Bloomsbury [ca 1853]
Alexander Turnbull Library Reference No. B-051-014-a. Permission of the
Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand, must be obtained before any
re-use of this image.
Dunedin’s Southern Cemetery is located on a rise at the
southern end of the town belt and was constructed on a
site known as Little Paisley. (Several weavers had set up
business there in the early days).
Above; An historic photograph of the Southern Cemetery (taken about 1880) looking south
towards St Clair. The Anglican section, in front, is fenced with a hedge. The general section is
clearly visible behind the Anglican Section. (Source Hocken SO4-116e)
At the cemetery: Background Fact Sheet
The Southern Cemetery - Dunedin
Sextons were employed in the Southern Cemetery to act as live-in, on-site
caretakers, keeping burial records, grave digging, and filling graves and general
upkeep. John Barr was the first to hold the position in the Southern Cemetery. The
Sexton’s cottages at the Southern cemetery have been pulled down.
The cemetery was closed for burials in 1980, with over 23,000 burials recorded.
The layout of the Southern Cemetery was influenced by developments in
cemetery design which occurred in early nineteenth century Britain and this can
be seen in the picturesque views, the planting of trees, and shrubs and in the
winding pathways and roads. It can also be seen in the wide range and variety of
memorials based on ancient architectural forms and Victorian sentimentalism.
Distinct religious denominational areas were set aside at the Southern cemetery
as can be seen in the historic photograph taken about 1880. There are separate
areas for Christian burials based on Anglican, General, and Catholic. Church
divisions. There were also areas set aside for non-Christian burials and these
included separate Jewish (photo below left) and Chinese areas (photo below
right).
Above Dunedin from Southern Cemetery 2008. This view
is taken from the gate on Eglinton Road and overlooks the
General Area of the cemetery.
At the cemetery: Background Fact Sheet
The Southern Cemetery – Dunedin’s earliest recorded burial
The earliest recorded burial is that on the tombstone of
“David Fourth son of John McGibbon Died 20 March 1858
aged 6 years and 4 months.
John (40) and Jane (30) MacGibbon were among the first
settlers to the colony arriving on the Mooltan in 1849 with
four children. The family eventually went to live in the
Mataura and Gore districts in Southland but several family
members are buried here.
The MacGibbon gravestones can be found in Block 2 Plot
17
At the cemetery: Background Fact Sheet
The Sexton’s Job
D A McLeod of Caversham who was employed as a sexton
with the Dunedin City Council for over 45 years and worked
at both Dunedin’s Northern and Southern Cemeteries
explained what his job as sexton or principle caretaker of
the cemetery involved:
A sexton’s job is a varied one and one of the duties of
the sexton in a cemetery like the Northern, (which is
closed to other than family plots) is checking to see if
persons seeking burial in family plots are in fact
entitled to do so. When the undertaker rings, the
sexton has to check back through the records and find
the name of the last one of that family who was buried
there. I like to check the last two just to be sure. “
Then he would check the grave lot from the cemetery
plan, find the section, check on the site, and then take
a test with a rod to see just where the other coffin is
sited. If it is more than five feet down you can put
The sexton’s cottage Northern Cemetery,
another on top, but if it is too shallow you test the
Dunedin.
sides. Then you dig a hole and when the funeral is over you fill it in again.
A sexton has to cut the hedges, keep the tracks and roads clear and tend to the graves. Many of which have been
willed for perpetual care; that is money has been left for their upkeep in perpetuity or for a set number of years. Then
there are the records to keep. People come looking for family graves, especially at holiday time, and it can take anything
from five minutes to two hours to check through the records and locate the particular grave. (The Dunedin Star, 19
January 1972. Also in Betteridge, 2005).
Both Dunedin’s Northern and Southern cemeteries provided cottages for the sextons and their families to live in. Two cottages at
the Southern Cemetery have been demolished. But the cottage at the Dunedin’s Northern cemetery survives. It was originally
built in 1872 with additions in 1876 and 1910. Today the cottage is used as an interpretation centre for the cemetery.
At the cemetery: Background Fact Sheet
The Southern Cemetery Dunedin: The Morgue
Unusually for a cemetery in
New Zealand, Dunedin’s
Southern Cemetery has a
Morgue on the cemetery
grounds. A Morgue is a
place provided for the
reception of dead bodies.
Pressure for a public morgue
had been fuelled by
outbreaks of infectious
diseases (including
diphtheria, typhoid and
scarlet fever) in Dunedin and
the inadequacy of
Quarantine Island in Otago
harbour to cope with a
serious epidemic.
The building was in use by
August 1903 and remained
in use for 46 years, until 2
February 1949.
The Edwardian style morgue
has changed little in
appearance since it was
completed in 1903.
The Morgue Southern Cemetery,
Dunedin.