Frequently Asked Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
The presence of up 200 unmarked graves—mainly Maaori—at the ‘old’ cemetery at Wellington Street, Pukekohe has been known for a long time. It has been a source of hurt for many in the community, and their descendants. Many respected people have advocated for something to be done to redress the injustices of the past.
For context you can watch the TVNZ documentary by Reikura Kahi, which brought this issue into focus. The documentary features local kuia, and Pukekohe Cemetery Memorial Committee members, Pare Rauwhero and Phyliss Bhana.
The Franklin Local Board, as part of Auckland Council decided the time was right, voting to establish the Pukekohe Cemetery Memorial Committee. The Committee is charged with consulting with the community and the descendants of those interred, so a design brief can be created to enable a suitable physical memorial (tohu maumahara).
The first part of the project has a budget of $200,000 allocated for consultation. This includes building this website, consulting with the community through a series of public meetings, surveying the cemetery and more. Consultation allows for informed decisions to be made about the nature of a physical memorial.
Towards the end of the consultation stage, the committee will outline a “design brief” calling for expressions of interest in building a memorial that reflects the preferences of the community. The building stage has a budget of up to $500,000 budget, but there is no requirement to spend it all.
Auckland Council assigns a portion of its budget it has available to a Māori Outcomes Fund. This fund is dedicated to funding projects and initiatives to achieve positive outcomes important to the community.
Committee members do not receive payment for their work.
The committee will provide guidance and oversite into this project until the physical memorial (tohu maumahara) is installed. At that point the committee will be disestablished.
Information has been sourced from the Pukekohe Maaori Death Register for the time, and cemetery burial records.
We welcome involvement from the wider community. To stay up-to-date, you can join our mailing list to be notified by email whenever new content is added to this website, or whenever there is a public meeting/hui scheduled. These usually take place at a physical venue in Pukekohe, but may also be held online by video call.
If you are a whaanau member or descendant of one of the people at the cemetery, and you may wish to have your story told. If you do, please click this link to email the committee and Marae who will provide some guidance.
No. They are held by the Department of Internal Affairs. While records are subject to the Official Information Act, documents can be withheld documents to protect privacy, including the privacy that of a deceased person.
Ngaa Hau e Whaa Marae O Pukekohe is taking a leading role in this project with support from mana whenua including Ngaati Tamaoho. There is broad support in the community, both Maaori and more widely. The Pukekohe Heritage Society and Franklin Genealogy Society also support this project.
No, although there are side-by-side graves with identical “Unknown” headstones, it’s thought they are the resting places of itinerant workers.
Anyone interacting with the committee will be able to do so in a private capacity, or in a public manner, which would allow the sharing of their stories.
Some committee members and whaanau have shared their stories, but there is no requirement to do so.
Every available document indicates the majority of those interred are Maaori. Some graves belong to people with European names but who have a Maaori parent.
There are also graves for those whose name might indicate another lineage, however they have a Maaori parent. The rest are interred in what was recorded as the “Native Section.” One grave is listed only as “Chinaman.”
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