'Each in his narrow cell for ever laid': Dunedin's Southern Cemetery and its New Zealand Counterparts

Main Article Content

Alexander Trapeznik
Austin Gee

Abstract

This article compares aspects of the design, layout and purpose of a range of historic New Zealand urban cemeteries with the Southern Cemetery in Dunedin. It makes use of recent research conducted for historic conservation reports which has enable detailed comparisons to be made for the first time. The Southern Cemetery survives as a representative example of a modern, urban cemetery of the mid-nineteenth century, though it is unusual in being in a comparatively unaltered state. It is shown that denominational division was a requirement from the outset in most places, contrary to the widespread assumption that it was uncommon. No major regional differences between cemeteries are to be found other than those due to the ethnic and religious pattern of settlement. The topography of cemeteries is also considered, together with their siting, plantings, specialised structures, maintenance, and their vulnerability to vandalism, ‘improvement’ or destruction.

Article Details

Section
Articles (PEER REVIEWED)
Author Biographies

Alexander Trapeznik, University of Otago

Associate Professor Department of History and Art History

Austin Gee

Independent Historian

References

Ariès', P. 1981. The hour of our death, London.

Alington, M. H. 1978. Unquiet Earth: A History of the Bolton Street Cemetery, Wellington. ARIÈS', P. 1974. Western attitudes toward death: from the Middle Ages to the present, Baltimore. ARIÈS', P. 1986. Images of Man and Death, Cambridge, Mass. AUCKLAND CITY COUNCIL. Waikumete Cemetery [Online]. Available: http://www.waitakere.govt.nz/cnlser/cm/index.asp.

BATHGATE, A. (ed.) 1890. Picturesque Dunedin: or, Dunedin and its Neighbourhood in 1890, Dunedin.

Curl, J. S. 1972. The Victorian Celebration of Death, Newton Abbot.

Fahey, W. H. 1906. Beautiful Dunedin, its environs and the cold lakes of Otago: a memento from Maoriland, Dunedin.

HAROLD, D. 2000. Maori Prisoners of War in Dunedin 1869–1872: deaths and burials and survivors, Dunedin.

HARVEY, S. 2006. Historic Cemeteries Conservation Trust of New Zealand Annual Report

PAGE, D. 2008. Anatomy of a Medical School: A History of Medicine at the University of Otago 1875-2000, Dunedin.

SWEETMAN, R. 2013. History of Otago Boys High School, 1863-2013, Dunedin.

WOOD, P. 2005. Dirt: Filth and Decay in a New World Arcadia.

WORPOLE, K. 2003. Last Landscapes: The Architecture of the Cemetery in the West, London.