Today, 6 February, is Waitangi Day, commemorating the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi which is considered to be New Zealand’s founding document. First officially commemorated in 1934, it has been a public holiday since 1974. You can read more here.
With the sun shining, and a need to stretch my legs, I decided to walk down to Karori Cemetery and explore a different bit to my last visit. This time I went in through the main entrance, where the rose garden can be found, with flowers planted in memory. Karori Cemetery, as I probably said, is New Zealand’s second largest burial ground, covering nearly 40 hectares, so there is a lot to see.
There are two dedicated areas which are home to the graves of 198 World War 1 and 100 World War 2 Commonwealth casualties, as well as a French casualty of the First World War. The marble archway you can see below links to the Wellington Provincial Memorial which commemorates service personnel from the area who died in the two World Wars and who have no known grave. I also read that a further 91 Commonwealth war casualties and a Norwegian merchant seaman are buried in the cemetery. It is quite a sobering sight.
I spotted these two family tombs, the one on the left belonging to a family called Richards and the one on the right, Mason. In the middle below is a lichen covered headstone.
There is an area called ‘warriors walk’ (see arrow pointing below), with some graves from those who fought in the Boer War and other conflicts. The larger image is a family grave of the children of P & I Mulcahy – three sons who died in World War 1, a daughter who died at 24 and two infants. What a sad spot.
The stone on the left commemorates the accidental death of a 16 year old – just so sad and one wonders what happened. To the right you can see part of the Jewish section of the cemetery, and below the grave of Melva who died at 24 months, and one of the pathways.
The large Underwood family mausoleum is also the last resting place of Henry Underwood, one of those who died in the wreck of the SS Penguin in the Cook Strait in 1909 (found this article here about it). There is a memorial walk of grave sites for those who died in the incident (for another day). The anchor wrapped cross was close by, but not related to that incident.
There is this lovely little chapel, nestled on a corner, which I understand is still in use. All in all I feel I have only just touched the surface of cemetery, and need to find out a lot more.
Thistles and Kiwis is a Wellington, New Zealand based blog written by Barbara, who likes cats, summer, good food and pretends to garden.
You can find Thistles and Kiwis on Facebook, and also on Instagram @thistlesandkiwis.
Thistles and Kiwis 
The sheer weight of loss, especially in families like the Mulcahys, is heartbreaking. Thank you for sharing Waitangi Day with us.
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It really is. I feel there is such a lot of history to unpack when I walk around a place like this. I would like to find out more.
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I like the openness of the cemetery, and the pictures you showed, allowing respect and memory to be encouraged. In contrast, I always find the cemeteries here in Edinburgh to be quite foreboding almost always in winter. I should take a moment to reflect. Thanks for sharing.
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I think the backdrop of the hills makes it somehow more open. I learned quite a bit about local history that I didn’t know and there is a sort of cared for ‘but left alone’ feel that I liked.
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A haunting place, not in the ghostly sense, but in the history that lies behind those memorials.
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I agree. So many stories, and one brought to life by a friend from work whose partner has a family member in one of the tombs I mentioned.
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Very interesting!
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There’s so much sadness and heartache when wandering through a cemetery. To see graves of children and people taken early in life is poignant indeed. Thanks for sharing.
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There is – and the stories you can feel about people who came here and settled, just how much WW1 impacted New Zealand and the history of the city itself.
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Such a lovely cemetery! And like all cemeteries, filled with so many stories. As well as ghosts.
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It really is – so much to explore too. I want to do a couple of the ‘walks’ that are suggested at some point.
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I find cemeteries so interesting. There are always sad stories to uncover as you have done here. Life has got more secure in many ways and I hope we are not about to go backwards. The world is a bit scary right now.
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Some of them are quite tragic. I agree that in many ways life has become more secure and like you I hope we are not going to go backwards.
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I am glad to know that other people like to wander through cemeteries and speculate on those laid to rest there. I have a large cemetery at the end of my street and I love to go there to think. My neighborhood is called Memorial Heights, after people from the community who dies at Pearl Harbor. The streets are named for the men who died at Pearl Harbor. Below is an exceprt about the man my street is named for.
Roderick Otto Klubertanz was born on February 27, 1907. He married Arabella Gertrude Laeser in 1931 and enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps on November 12, 1940. After training at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, Klubertanz was stationed at Air Base 17, Hickam Field, Hawaii. Tragically, he was among the 121 killed in the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. Klubertanz Drive, in Sun Prairie’s Memorial Heights neighborhood, is named in his honor. I found the graves of his parents at the cemetery. They also have a good sized area dedicated to those that died very young. It is heartbreaking, the number of tiny markers. Many of the graves are from the late 1800s. I visited one in rural Massachusetts that had had graves from the 1700s and many could no longer be read, so maybe even older.
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How fascinating! One can learn so much local history from graveyards and your is such a great story. Thanks for sharing!
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Oh I really want to visit that cemetery, it looks beautiful, my mum’s mother’s Dunlop family rest there.
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It is a beautiful place with the backdrop of the hills. Oh how interesting that you have a family connection to it!
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