Location: Drury, Auckland, New Zealand
Surnames/tags: New Zealand Cemeteries Auckland

Drury Presbyterian Cemetery

The cemetery owned by the Presbyterian Church is on Great South Road, whereas the church is on Norrie Road, some distance away. There is no sign at the cemetery, apart from a board advertising the weekly services at the church in Norrie Road. The cemetery has no gates or fencing, but has a gateway. Parking is on the street, although there is space to drive through the gates and up the driveway. A bus stop is situated near the street entrance, and the cemetery is opposite the local school.

The cemetery has suffered some subsidence into Slippery Creek, and it is likely that some graves and headstones have been damaged or lost as a result of slips into the creek.

Open gateway to the Cemetery.

SOME HISTORY OF DRURY AND THE CEMETERY
Drury is a small township 5km from Papakura, although the boundary is likely to disappear with urban development. The town was named after Captain Drury, who surveyed Manukau Harbour.

Drury was served by ‘roads’ that were little more than dry-weather dirt tracks. Construction of the Great South Road began in January 1862. Every available soldier was deployed to clear the forest and form the road, and about 1700 men worked the road each day.

However with the construction of the road complete, Drury became an important military outpost, and one which became a base for British military operations against Waikato Māori during the New Zealand Wars. However a section of the road, known as "The Devil's Nest" was particularly feared, with its dense bush on either side offering little warning to Colonial troops of any attack. (see the image of Devil's Nest)

The Devil's Nest section of "road" at Drury

The town was at a convenient junction point with access out to another major southern Auckland settlement at Waiuku, and with stream and with close-by water access to both harbours. The road access was beneficial not only for troop access but for settlement by the pakeha. Nearby Slippery Creek (by the church and cemetery) was the landing place for Bombay settlers.

In 1855 services for Presbyterians in Drury were held in various private homes, the main available combined meeting place being in Papakura, only a few miles away. The church building in Papakura, built in 1859, was at one time the largest Presbyterian church in New Zealand. The Drury Presbyterian Church was built in 1858, the original building was destroyed by fire and then replaced in the 1880's.

Notable Interments

There is 1 Commonwealth burial of the 1939-1945 war here, being that of Roderick Wallace Bremner, who died on 30 July 1942.

Lieut James Flanagan died on active service in World War One, and is memorialised here.

Links

• Find-a-Grave