SLIDE 1
More than famous men and women: Sites for student investigation and analysis.
SLIDE 2 As time passes our old cemeteries become When combined with paper and electronic sources, the historic cemetery opens up to students a direct and accessible link to a significant proportion of the past population, the ordinary as well as the elite, allowing unique opportunities to investigate many different aspects of their lives and their deaths.
- less a landscape for mourning and
remembrance by loved ones
- more a source of curiosity,
- more a quiet or contemplative
environment,
- and more an invaluable source of
evidence of the way past generations lived and often died.
SLIDE 3 Electronic archives allow classroom access to searchable original and secondary sources.
Secondary sources:
e Ara
- Dictionary of New Zealand Biography
- Google maps
- Heritage trails
- City Council archives
Primary sources:
website
Papers past website ( as below)
SLIDE 4 Jewish Portion Dunedin Southern Cemetery
Sarah Cohen Plot 88
Joel, Plot 144 Bendix Hallenstein & Willi Fells Plot 140 Septimus Myers Plot 110 Jewish section Map reproduced from Ockwell, N. (Ed.). (1985). Southern Cemetery Dunedin. Vol 5. Jewish and Chinese Portion. Prepared for the New Zealand Society
The Theomins Plot 124
Student investigations can centre on
- an individual or family,
- a particular suburb,
- a specific migrant group,
- a specific town or district,
- a city or region or
- even the nation as a whole.
SLIDE 5 Block 4 Plot 31 (Patrick)
At the Andersons Bay Cemetery Finding first settlers from the first ships to the colony 1848 -1852
Student work cards – Cut out fold in half and give one to each group
- Block 105 Plot 63 (Anderson)
Fold Fold
An example of the student cards. T eachers print onto light card, cut out, and fold along each card along the dotted line. Put in a box and take to the
- cemetery. Student groups “dig” for a grave, locate using a cemetery map,
record details and investigate using local resources.
SLIDE 6 Memorial information
student inquiry into wider social and living conditions during the later 19 th and early 20 th centuries. At the cemetery: In depth investigation Southern Cemetery Area 1: Student recording sheet – page 2
Details from the epitaph such as an accident, a persons occupation, or war involvement ______________________________________________________________________
Data plotted into age bands by decade and time by decade reveals information about life expectancy in New Zealand colonial society and allows for interesting follow-up investigations .
Name Y ear Died Age
One of the most obvious inquiries is to have students gather mortality data (names, ages, and date of deaths) from the epitaph information.
SLIDE 8
- Occasionally students will
encounter headstones such as these pictured.
- Cause of death is usually
not recorded on headstones unless that death was accidental.
Erected to the Memory
William Sutherland Died 6th April 1871 Aged 6 years and 8 months Davidina Sutherland Died 6th April 1871 Aged 5 years 6 months John Sutherland Died 6th April 1871 Aged 3 years 4 months Henrietta Margaret Sutherland Died 21st April 1871 Aged 1 year John Sutherland Died 15th July 1905 Aged 76 years Ann wife of above Died 30th Oct 1911 Aged 76 years
Encourage students to investigate….
- Water supply and links to
typhoid
- Effluent and garbage disposal
- Methods of cooking and food
storage
services
- Child care and immunisation
SLIDE 9
Timeline illustrating conditions & changes that impacted on high mortality rates in colonial New Zealand
Decade = 1850s Dunedin
SLIDE 10
Most of these headstones now provide the only record that exists today of men from Poon Y ue province in Southern China who were never able to return to their families and homelands. Headstones in the Chinese section of Dunedin’s Southern Cemetery tell of many Chinese sojourner gold seekers who came to Otago and who endured incredible hardship and cultural and physical isolation. When combined with Genealogy Society transcripts and translations the data from these headstones tell a unique demographic story. The story can be rounded out with original resources and secondary resources many of which are available online.
SLIDE 11
- The disaster recorded here opens our eyes today to the
realities and the hazards involved in the social and working conditions at the time.
SLIDE 12
SLIDE 13 A few short years of evil past, We reach this happy shore, Where death divided friends at last, Shall meet to part no more. Oh may we stand before the lamb, When Earth and seas are fled, And hear the judge pronounce our name With blessings on our heads. Mitchell Grave Northern Cemetery Dunedin Mourn not for me my comrades dear I am not dead but sleeping here My end you know, my grave you see Prepare yourself to follow me. Northern Cemetery Dunedin
Mortality of man The Resurrection With Jesus The Day
ment Passages from the bible are also common
“The Spirit and the Bride say ‘come’. Rev 22:17 For of such is the kingdom of heaven.
Fate
SLIDE 14 Religious symbols
2000-9
- 1990-9
- 1980-9
- 1970-9
- 1960-9
1950-9
1930-9
- 1920-9
- 1910-9
- 1900-9
- 1890-9
- 1880-9
- 1870-9
- Cross
Open book Wreath ribbon Angel Lily Cross & crown IHS Ivy Pall
Religious epithets
2000-9
- 1990-9
- 1980-9
- 1970-9
- 1960-9
- 1950-9
- 1940-9
1930-9
1900-9 1890-9
Fate Resurre ction With Christ At rest Biblical Quote
SLIDE 15
SLIDE 16 1870s 1880s 1890s 1900s … 1920s 1930s 1940s … 1990s
Changes in monument styles may be used to infer meaning with respect to social and political structures. Changes in memorials can be attributed to changing beliefs about memorialisation and a move towards a more egalitarian society that was apparent in New Zealand from the 1920s
SLIDE 17
SLIDE 18 T roope r J
Kille d in action at Damascus 1917. Impe rial Came l Corps. Pre ston Logan Kille d in action at Gallipoli, May
Mounte d Rifle s. Coll Boyd McDonald (Cade t) kille d whe n the training ship S.S. Aparima was torpe doe d in the English Channe l in 1917 Ian Grant Kille d
during the battle with Graf Spe e at the Rive r Plate in 1939
SLIDE 19
Lieutenant Preston Logan Auckland Mounted Rifles, N.Z.E.F . Died on the hospital ship Soudan and buried at sea, 22 nd May 1915 aged 22. Commemorated on the Lone Pine memorial, Gallipoli T urkey.
SLIDE 20 A r t h u r E a r l e C o l l i e
- B l o c k 8 0 P l o t 1 6
S y d n e y D u k e
- B l o c k 1 6 1 P l o t 1 5
- T h o m
a s D r y d e n
- B l o c k 1 5 1 P l o t 1
- T h o m
a s N e s b i t t
- B l o c k 1 9 1 A P l o t 8 7
F r a n c i s D a v i s
- B l o c k 1 7 9 P l o t 1 1
- P r e s t o n L o g a n
- B l o c k 1 4 1 A P l o t 1 1
J o h n S t e w a r t R e i d
- B l o c k 7 3 P l o t 3 8
J o h n G i l k s
- B l o c k 1 9 8 P l o t 3 6
G i l b e r t W
- r s f o l d T h r o p
- B l o c k 1 8 1 P l o t 6
- Map of Dunedins Northern Cemetery
sourced from Location of Dunedins Cemeteries http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/facilities/cemeteries/location-pdfs
SLIDE 21 Symbol (Insignia) Meaning
Keep a tally record of numbers of headstones in your section with similar symbol
T
Symbol (Insignia) Meaning and T ally Symbol (Insignia) Meaning and T ally Symbol (Insignia) Meaning and T ally
SLIDE 22 Wood Slate Granite Limestone/ Sandstone Concrete with marble
plaques Metal Marble
SLIDE 23 2000 1990 1980 1970 1960 1950 1940 1930 1920 1910 1900 1890 1880 1870
Sandstone or Limestone Marble Concrete with Marble cartouche Concrete with Granite cartouche Granite
Natural stone with bronze plaque
SLIDE 24 References:
Deed, Stephen. (Nov 2004). Unearthly landscapes: The development of the cemetery in nineteenth century New Zealand. A thesis submitted for a Master of Arts Degree, University of Otago. Edgar, Philip G. (Dec 1995). Ideological choice in the gravestones of Dunedin's Southern
- Cemetery. A thesis submitted for a Master of Arts Degree, University of Otago.
Keister, Douglas. (2004) Stories in Stone: A field guide to cemetery symbolism and iconography.
MacLean, Chris and Philips, Jock. (1990). The sorrow and the pride: New Zealand war memorials.
- Wellington. Historical Branch, Department of Internal Affairs. Government Printing Office.
Mytum, Harold. (2000). Analysing historic graveyards. Practical Handbook in Archaeology 15. York: Council for British Archaeology. Reprinted in 2008. Sagazio, C. (Ed)(1992) Cemeteries: Our Heritage. National Trust of Australia (Victoria). Sagazio, C. (Ed) (2003) Conserving our Cemeteries. National Trust of Australia (Victoria).
SLIDE 25
Acknowledgement:
The Historic Cemeteries Conservation T rust of New Zealand commissioned education resources for the use by teachers in New Zealand’s cemeteries. T eaching units and supporting resources are now available for download from the Historic Cemeteries Conservation T rust (HCCTNZ) website at http:/ / www.cemeteries.org.nz/
