A photo-story/fact sheet
resource set that introduces
students to some of the objects
such as torches, wreaths and
scrolls we see in heritage
cemeteries and the meanings
they held for Victorians that are
often hidden from us today.
The many historic cemeteries that dot our towns and countryside leave us
a legacy of history, art and culture, which today, we struggle to
understand.
These cemeteries are places where our ancestors and loved ones rest
and where we today can make contact with the past by observing and
coming to understand the beliefs, attitudes, and deeper meanings that are
embedded in the material culture and literature of the past.
Visual symbolism on graves has been present for as long as such
memorials have existed and use of such symbolism continues.
 Inverted bouquets are a symbol
of death and mean that a life is now
extinguished.
Northern Cemetery,
Dunedin
The flowers within the bouquet
shown here represent different
attributes many of which can be
found elsewhere in this booklet.
 Roses symbolise the
shortness of life
 Wheat symbolises a long and
fruitful life, immortality,
resurrection.
 Daisies are symbolic of the
Virgin Mary (simplicity and
purity).
 Primrose symbolises love,
memory, youth, hope.
 Pansies or violas symbolise
thoughts. Greenaway, K. (1885)
 Broken flowers usually denote
a life cut short and were often
used as a symbol for the death of
a child.
All examples
Northern
Cemetery,
Dunedin.
 The broken lily (right) is the
symbol used on the Fogo
memorial in the Northern
Cemetery in Dunedin. The Fogo
family had two lives cut short.
The Fogo’s young son died in
1875 aged 11 months. Twentyfive years later Sarah Fogo was
convicted of killing her abusive
husband and spent 11 years in
gaol for the crime. She died at
age 70 and was interred in this
plot with her husband and baby
son. The headstone probably
dates from around 1875.
 Books represent the Book of
Life, which according to the bible
is opened on judgement day. The
dead are judged by what is
recorded in the book. (Keister,D. 2004)
Southern Cemetery,
Dunedin
 Books and scrolls often
appear held by a hand or laid
over a plinth. Scrolls unroll
downwards and are never
completely unfurled. They
represent a life record
traditionally being kept by the
angels with the future and past
both hidden in the top and
bottom.
 Scrolls are also used for honour
and commemoration.
Oamaru Cemetery,
North Otago.
Palmerston Cemetery,
East Otago
Left Arrowtown
Cemetery, Central
Otago
Below: Northern
Cemetery, Dunedin
Arrowtown Cemetery,
Central Otago
Northern Cemetery,
Dunedin
 Anchors are often found on the
graves of seafarers or where the
deceased may have been lost at
sea or in a shipwreck. However
the anchor does not always mean
the person had any connection in
life or death with the sea.
 An anchor is symbolic of holding
a ship steady and in position
despite stormy weather conditions
so faith in the resurrection of Christ
holds a person steady through the
storms of life.
 Often the anchor will be shown
with a cross symbolising both the
promise of resurrection and the
faith based upon it. (Seaton, L. 2004)
 In the lower image the anchors
form part of the fence for the plot.
 Flames, because of their
colour and movement, symbolise
life. An inverted torch represents
the flame of life being
extinguished. (Seaton, L. 2004)
Northern Cemetery,
Dunedin
 In the case of the picture on
the left two inverted torches
are shown clasped by the dove
and the olive branch indicating
the deceased are at peace.
Inverted torches are often
featured on war memorials.
 Lighthouses symbolise a
lighting of the pathway for the
deceased towards the day of
judgement and resurrection.
Southern Cemetery,
Dunedin
Northern Cemetery,
Dunedin
 The veil which often looks
more like a stage curtain
symbolises the journey or
passage from life to death.
 Veils are meant to protect as
well as conceal. (Keister, D.2004)
All headstones Southern Cemetery,
Dunedin.
Northern Cemetery,
Dunedin.
 Today urns are the containers
for ashes after a cremation.
However cremation was abhorrent
to Victorian Christians who
believed burial was a preparation
for the afterlife. Instead urns for
Victorians were symbolic of fate or
the lottery of life. (Seaton, L. 2004)
Southern Cemetery,
Dunedin.
Old Cromwell
Cemetery, Central
Otago.
 Urns were often draped with
a veil and garlanded with
flowers.
 For many centuries urns have shown
flames emerging from the top, which are
symbolic of life, like the torch, and
suggest new life associated with the
resurrection.
 Many headstones are partly covered
with a large tasselled cloth. The cloth
sometimes covers an urn, the top of a
pedestal or an obelisk.
The cloth is called the pall and is
symbolic of the large cloth that
covers the coffin during the funeral
service.
Southern
Cemetery,
Dunedin.
Timaru Cemetery, South
Canterbury.
Southern Cemetery,
Dunedin.
 Each church parish once had a
pall, which was hired out for funerals.
The pall was usually white
representing the purity of Jesus
Christ and the Virgin Mary and
decorated with symbols such as the
Cross, or the Greek letters alpha 
and omega .
 The pallbearer, a word still used
today, originally meant the person who
held the corners of the pall during the
funeral. Seaton, L. (2004)
 Clasped hands symbolise the
hands of the deceased and the
living clasped in farewell.
 The hands are usually placed
horizontally with the index finger
of the male pointing down. The
hands shown are always the
right hand of a female on the left
and that of a male on the right.
The female hand is shown with a
lace cuff and the male hand with
a shirt cuff.
 Clasped hands were also
symbolic of immigrants being
parted from their homeland and
loved ones as in the old piece of
Scottish jewellery shown.
Arrowtown Cemetery, Central
Otago
Seaton, L. (2004)
Shield: Southern
Cemetery, Dunedin.
Ledgers contain the inscription are
usually inserted into a larger
regular shaped concrete wall.
Ledgers in the shape of a heart
are quite common in New
Zealand’s cemeteries especially
from about 1900. The heart has
long been a Christian symbol that
represents the centre of emotion.
Latterly it has come to represent
love.
Linwood Cemetery
Christchurch.
Queenstown Cemetery.
The shield has long been associated
with war and may represent victory
over death. Shields were popular with
families to commemorate fallen
soldiers of WW1.
Resources
Resources used in the development of these slides
Betteridge, C. (2005). Conservation Plans: Northern and Southern Cemeteries. Unpublished
report for Historic Cemeteries Conservation Trust of New Zealand.
Greenaway, K. (1884). Language of Flowers. This is a well known ‘dictionary’ of flower meanings
used by Victorians. The 1884 edition (with illustrations) is available as an online illuminated text at
http://www.illuminated-books.com/books/flowers.htm
Keister, D. (2004). Stories in Stone: A Field Guide to Cemetery Symbolism and Iconography. Gibbs
Smith Publisher. Salt Lake City.
Seaton, L. (2004) Timaru Cemetery: Messages in Stone. A Guide to the meanings of the symbols
on headstones. South Canterbury Museum.
Tyler, L. (No Date). The broken lily and the grim reaper’s scythe: The iconography of Victorian and
Edwardian Gravestones in the Northern Cemetery. Presentation Notes. Director of the Centre for
New Zealand Art, Research & Discovery. University of Auckland.
Acknowledgement
Special thanks is extended to Fiona Hyland, Heritage Rose Society of Dunedin, for her help and assistance
with identification and meanings behind many cemetery symbols in Dunedin’s Northern Cemetery.