Maori Gully Cemetery, West Coast

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: [unknown]

Maori Gully Cemetery

Maori Gully Cemetery Road

Location
Maori Gully Cemetery is on Maori Gully Road, which is unsealed and can be accessed from the Arnold Valley Road. In about 2.7 km, there is a sign and a rough track to the cemetery site.

Maori Gully
Maori Gully, West Coast - New Zealand topographic map. WGS84 coordinates: -41.48431156, 172.18157870 . The original name for the area was Maori Creek, part of the New River diggings of late 1865. Two towns developed, Maori Creek/Dunganville and Clifton. Dunganville was named after Peter Dungan who was a mining agent, Westland County Council Chairman and member of the Westland Provincial Council.

In 1885 Maori Creek / Dunganville had the New River Hotel and a store owned by a Mr McKechnie, a store owned by Mr McPhee and a school. McKechnie's store and hotel burned to the ground in 1886 and the neighbouring McPhee store was also destroyed by the fire.
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Maori Gully Cemetery
Maori Gully Cemetery was mentioned in the Greymouth County Council Balance Sheet in the 'Greymouth Evening Star' 14 September 1901 and later papers. ^[2]An article in October 1937 about old cemeteries in the days of the gold rushes, printed in the 'Grey Evening Star" dated the Maori Gully Cemetery as going back to the 1860s. It reported that the first expenditure by the County Council was on renewing the cemetery fence and building an access road to the cemetery in 1884. Manuka trees had regrown over most of the half acre enclosure and it was difficult to determine what ground had been used for burials, the mounds having disappeared.
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James McGaffin's Grave

The one grave that had railings and a headstone was that of Phillip McGaffin who was accidentally killed, age 35 years, at his claim 9 June 1872.

In 1937 no-one had been buried there for more than 30 years and in the 2020s gold mining activities have dug ground close to the cemetery and locals are concerned that the cemetery will be destroyed.

Burials
A survey of newspapers in the early 20th Century, provided information about gold miners who died at Maori Creek. Most were elderly at the time of their death, though probably young when they followed the gold rush to Maori Valley/ Dunganville in about 1865. Those who died and were buried there included about 18 Irish, 11 Scots, 8 English, 5 German, 2 Danish, 2 Chinese,1 American and 1 Swedish miners. This cemetery was not found listed in either Find A Grave of Billion Graves under any of a number of alternate names.

Maori Gully Cemetery

Links

• Grey District Council Website

Sources

1. ↑ Grey River Argus, 6 June 1866.
2. ↑ 1901 Newspaper: "Papers Past, National Library of New Zealand"
   Greymouth Evening Star, Volume XXXI, 14 September 1901, Page 1 (Supplement)
   Papers Past Article (accessed 8 April 2024)
3. ↑ 1937 Newspaper: "Papers Past, National Library of New Zealand"
   Greymouth Evening Star, 8 October 1937, Page 10
   Papers Past Article (accessed 8 April 2024)