Blacks Cemetery

This Omakau cemetery is named after the nearby Blacks gold diggings, which were on the property of an early run holder called Charles Black, near Ophir. Reading the inscriptions on the memorials would indicate that the cemetery has been used since the 1870s. Sadly, as with some other Central Otago cemeteries, early burial records have been lost to fire, and in this case a house fire in 1948.

Blacks Cemetery is quite a large monumental-style cemetery on a Central Otago scale with a variety of elaborate gravestones. Blacks Cemetery is well worth a visit to gain some insight into the Irish history of this area.

Located on Deaker Street, Blacks Cemetery was administered by the Blacks Cemetery Trust and maintained by volunteers up until 2012 and has now come back into Council management.