More Central Otago cemeteries available online
Digitisation of Central Otago district cemeteries is continuing, with Ranfurly Cemetery now completed and Roxburgh Cemetery just begun.
The digitisation of Council cemeteries started some years ago, with the online database containing records for the Alexandra, Clyde, Omakau (Blacks), Nevis, Cromwell, Litany St (Cromwell) and Naseby cemeteries. The public can search for relatives and people of interest online, and the service means some of the older records aren’t just paper versions, which future-proofs the valuable information.
At the Ranfurly Cemetery, there was only one unknown grave where the occupant could not be identified, which was uncommon, according to the cemetery team. It means the record keeping was excellent from the time of the first burial on 27 October 1907 until the present day.
The bulk of the work at Ranfurly was carried out by Central Otago District Council cadet Jocelyn Ryan. The work involved fact checking, grave checking i.e., that the names matched the plot as per the record, and that there were the right number of people in the grave.
“It was a very satisfying project because it’s humane,” Jocelyn said. “I’m giving people a name since they no longer have a voice of their own.”
Jocelyn photographed every headstone. There are 700 occupied plots within the cemetery, 306 photos needed to be retaken.
Digitisation of Roxburgh Cemetery, now operated by Council and previously run by the Roxburgh Cemetery Trust, is underway. Roxburgh opened in1860. The records up to 1901 were lost in a fire many years ago, and for the 1901-1980 period, tricky to decipher at times and the fact that incomplete information was sometimes supplied could also make identification difficult.
“We’re expecting this project to be a lot more challenging because of the age of the information and because the cemetery is a lot older,” Jocelyn said.
St Bathans Cemetery is next on the list.
For information about the Council’s Cemetery Record Search, go to the website:
https://www.codc.govt.nz/do-it-online/cemetery-record-search
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PHOTOS: Central Otago District Council cadet Jocelyn Ryan laying flowers on the only unknown grave at Ranfurly Cemetery, following an extensive digitisation project. It is in Block 3 in what was the Catholic part of the cemetery, in the northwestern corner. If anyone has any information concerning this grave, please give the Council a call. PHOTO: CODC.
