Fox Glacier Cemetery

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: Westland, West Coast, New Zealand

Fox Glacier Cemetery

Cemetery Gate

Location
Also known as Our Lady of the Snows Cemetery, the Fox Glacier Cemtery is located behind the Catholic Church on Cooks Flat Road, Fox Glacier, Westland District, West Coast 7951 New Zealand. Coordinates: -43.46231, 170.00775

Fox Glacier
The Māori name for the Franz Josef Glacier is Ka Roimata o Hinehukatere which refers to 'the tears Hinehukatere' a fearless young woman who, according to Māori legend, loved climbing in the mountains. She persuaded her lover Wawe to climb with her. Disaster struck when an avalanche swept Wawe from the peaks to his death.The Fox Glacier was his final resting place, or moeka. Hinehukatere was broken hearted and her many tears flowed down the mountain. Austrian explorer Julius Von Haast named the Fox Glacier in honour of the New Zealand Premier, Sir William Fox

The settlement at Fox Glacier, known then as Weheka, began when on the coast at Gillespies Beach, which underwent a gold rush in the 1860s, the amount of gold being recovered at Gillespies Beach, 20 km to the west, declined and most of the population, including the Sullivan family of miners, moved on. Patrick Sullivan moved inland with his friend Fred Williams to try farming in an area known as the Weheka Valley.

Pioneers Comemoration Plaque

Julia Sullivan married Fred Williams in 1893 and built a farmhouse on the Cook River flats near the present site of the settlement. By the early 1900s large amounts of forest on the flats had been cleared and become farmland. Access to the settlement was still via the sea: boats would land at Gillespies Beach, and goods were unloaded in the surf and carried by horse and dray back to Weheka.

In the 1920s Westland began to be marketed as a scenic wonderland for tourists. For years the Williams and Sullivan families had offered hospitality to tourists coming to see the glacier in their own homesteads, but in 1926 Mick and Jack Sullivan decided to build accommodation for the increasing numbers of visitors. They established a sawmill and built the Fox Glacier Hostel, which opened on 20 December 1928. It had its own hydroelectric power generator and was supplied by the Sullivan farm. It had 40 bedrooms, designed to accommodate up to 100 guests, as well as four parlours and a large dining room for up to 70 diners. Mary Kerr (née Sullivan) ran the hotel, and essentially all local tourism, from the 1950s until her death in 1986.
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Our Lady of the Snows Cemetery / Fox Glacier Cemetery
Our Lady of the Snows is a Catholic church, established in 1934, on Cooks Flat Road, Fox Glacier township, West Coast, New Zealand. The memorial gate at the cemetery was built in 1940 at the time or the Centenary of New Zealand.

Fox Glacier Cemetery

Burials 'Billion Graves' has 66 records of burials in the Fox Glacier Cemetery and 'Find A Grave' has 69 memorials. None of these burials were before 1900. There are several memorials for each of the Williams and Sullivan families.

Earliest Interments

Julia Olive (Sullivan) Williams, born at Gillespies Beach in about 1873, she died 3 October 1935 age 62 years. Her husband Frederick George Williams, born in Kanieri in about 1870, died at age 68 years 14 May 1938. They were buried in the Our Lady of the Snows Church Cemetery, Fox Glacier, Westland District, West Coast, New Zealand.. Julia and Fred were the earliest settlers at Weheka and built a farmhouse on the Cook River Flats.

Burials after 1970

Michael Joseph Sullivanwas born at Gillespies Beach and died at Fox Glacier 19 September 1972. His wife Agnes Mary Sullivan was born in 1878 at Donohues, Ross and died at Fox Glacier 26 February 1972 age 94 years. Michael (Mick) and his brother John construct a purpose-built hotel,which opened 20 December 1928, having accommodated visitors in their homes prior to this. They established a sawmill to mill local rimu for the project. Mary Agnes (Sullivan) Kerr born 21 February 1919 was the proprietor from the 1950s until her death 25 June 1986 (aged 67). Her husband John Douglas Kerr was born 23 February 1912 and died 22 October1989 (aged 77). According to a former cook at the Hotel, Doug Kerr was a man of few words but a really nice man. He used to pay the piano at the Hotel. All four are buried in the Fox Glacier Cemetery. In 1968 the Fox Glacier hotel was used by the Police as a Base when Jenifer Baird was murdered and her body found under the Haast Bridge.

Michael and Mary Sullivan

Bridie Williams died 18 September 1974 and her husband Harry Williams a few weeks later 27 November 1974. They were both buried in Our Lady of the Snows Cemetery .

Returned Serviceman

Hector Fergus Crichton, Service number WWII NZD1803 in the Armed forces, Navy. His last rank was as Leading Telegraphist/Military NZIPP in the Royal New Zealand Navy. Hector was awarded the War Medal 1939-1945 and the New Zealand War Service Medal. He died 22 May 2016 and was buried in Our Lady of the Snows Cemetery, Fox Glacier, Westland District, West Coast, New Zealand with his wife Irene Aloysius Crichton who died 27 December 1997 .

Most Recent Burials

Kevin Joseph Williams , born in about 1939, died peacefully in Fox Glacier on Saturday, April 18, 2020, aged 81 years. Loved husband for 52 years of Noeleen, father and father-in-law of Grant, and Paul and Abyee. Cherished grandad of Peter James. Much loved brother of Mike (deceased), Monica and Philip McCormick.

Mary Ignatia “Molly” Sullivan, born 3 October 1929, a stalwart of the community at Fox Glacier, died in Dixon House, Greymouth, 9 October 2021 (aged 92). Her husband John Stephen Sullivan was born 2 September 1927 and died suddenly at home in Fox Glacier, 23 September 2014 (aged 87).

David George “Herb” Dixon, born 30 September 1957 and died 17 July 2016 (aged 58)

Links

• Find A Grave
• Billion Graves
• District Council

Sources

1. ↑ Wikipedia