Waimangaroa Cemetery, Waimangaroa, West Coast

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: Pottingers Road, Waimangaroa, Buller, West Coast, New Zealand

Waimangaroa Cemetery

Waimangaroa Cemetery and Denniston Incline.

Location
Coordinates: -41.70081, 171.74802.The cemetery is a 5 minute drive from the Waimangaroa township on Pottingers Road. The Denniston Incline can be seen on the hills beyond the cemetery.

Waimangaroa
Maori had prospected a small creek named which flowed into the sea eight miles north of the Buller River, before June 1861 when Reuben Waite and party arrived to test the Maori gold discoveries. The diggings were opened and developed by groups of Collingwood miners, both Maori and pakeha. By December 1861 gold had been found as far north as Karamea and as far south as the Waitakere River. Returns at Waimangaroa were estimated at £1 a day and the small cluster of shanties at the mouth of the Buller River had been named Westport.

Waimangaroa township, coordinates: -41.71321775, 171.74973900, lies on the south-west bank of the Waimangaroa River, at the western foot of the Denniston Plateau. It is 17 kilometres (11 mi) to the north east of Westport and 13 km south-east of Granity. The settlement is in the North Wareatea riding of the county of Buller, in the electorate of Buller, and in the provincial district of Nelson.

The Koranui Mine was located on the northern side of the Waimangaroa Gorge. The Koranui Company prospected the area in 1879, and the following year took a lease over the area. They constructed a 3.7 kilometre long, 4 section incline down to the flats from the mine site 700 metres above. A tramline connected the mine entrance to the incline. The mine closed shortly after, and was blamed on the expense of construction and on-going costs in running the incline. The mine was purchased by the Union Steamship Company in 1885, then purchased by the Westport Coal Company, but mining did not re-start.
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Waimangaroa Cemetery Burials

Coffin on the Denniston Incline.

'Billion Graves' has 224 memorials for persons buried in this cemetery and 'Find A Grave' has 887 records. There are still approximately 180 headstones marking graves. Most of the pioneers and coal miners buried here died accidentally in coal mines, by drowning, in horse and other road accidents, illnesses and old age.

Several infants and some children are buried in the Waimangaroa Cemetery. There are official war graves of two men who served in the New Zealand forces during the First World War: Private Maurice Burdon and Private William Griffiths .

Because the ground was so hard at the mining town of Denniston high on a plateau, coffins were transported down the steep Denniston incline to Waimangaroa, and then taken to the graveyard near the sea. Before there was road access to Denniston, many women spent their whole adult lives there, leaving only when they died.
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Sherlock Family Plot

Gold Miners

Thomas Sherlock, born in Tipperary, County Tipperary, Ireland in 1847 emigrated to New Zealand worked as a gold miner in the early days of the West Coast gold rushes. Resident at the Railway Hotel, Waimangaroa, Thomas became ill in Christchurch where he was on holiday with his daughter. He died in Lewisham Hospital 18 May 1917 (aged 69–70)^[3] His wife, Margaret Hennesey Sherlock, born in 1860 died 20 August 1911 (aged 50–51). They are both buried in the Waimangaroa Cemetery.^[4] They left four sons, one of whom was wounded in France in 1916, and two daughters. One son,Michael Sherlock born 31 October 1887 and died 13 March 1927 (aged 39) is also buried there.

Coal Miners

George Crawford Learmonth was born 7 May 1842 in Scotland. A pioneer of the West Coast, he had resided at Denniston for 43 years. He died, age 85, 2 September 1927 at the residences of his daughter and son-in-law. Some of the family were still working in the mine where George had worked until a few years before his death. His wife, Isabella Wright Learmonth, born in Scotland 22 August 1852, married George 31 December 1870. They emigrated to New Zealand on the ship 'Jessie Readman', arriving in Otago 16 October 1874. They had two sons and four daughters. Isabella died in the Denniston Hospital two years after George,12 August 1929 (aged 77). Their year old daughter, born in 1891, Mary Learmonth, died 'from inflammation' in Denniston 7 November 1898.

Hugh (Hughie) Cook, born in Scotland in about 1875, emigrated to New Zealand about eight years before he died, age 65 years, after a prolonged illness in September 1940. He left a widow and two sons. His funeral was attended by a large number of friends and members of the Ngakawau Miners Union.
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Rope Road Accident

Moses Harry, born in1853 was accidentally killed on the Denniston Incline Rope Road 25 September 1924 (aged 70–71). A large number of residents and representatives of the Coal Company attended the funeral. Work at the mine was suspended for the day. His wife, Esther Evans Harry, born in 1857 in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales died 28 Mar 1935 (aged 77–78). They had six children.

Died in Chidbirth

Alice Maud Bradley, born in1884 in Millerton, Buller District, West Coast, New Zealand, wife of Arthur Bradley, resident in Granity, died 21 May 1917 (aged 33) during childbirth. Her two new born baby boys died a few hours after their mother, one was Henry Hilarey Bradley and the other John Thomas Bradley died 21 May 1917.^[6]

Returned Servicemenr's Graves

Returned Servicemen

George Burdon, Veteran married Janet Howat and they lived in Denniston where they had 11 children before he died 12 November 1915 . Three sons, Alexander, George and Maurice all served in World War I.

 : Private Maurice Burdon Veteran, was born 16 November 1896, Denniston, West Coast, New Zealand. He was the son of Janet and George Burdon. His Service Number was WWI 35157 in the army branch of the Armed Forces. His last rank was Private in the Wellington Infantry Regiment. WAR World War I, 1914-1918. Maurice died 18 December 1918 (aged 22) in Waimangaroa, Buller District, West Coast, New Zealand. His eldest brother James Alexander Burdon born in1891was also in the Army during WW I. His Service number was WWI 2/1549. James died in 1970 age 79. Maurice's elder brother George Harold Burdon born 1894 served in both World Wars. Their Service numbers were WWI 64619 and WWII 40765. He was awarded the British War Medal (1914-1920). George died in 1972.
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War Casualty

Private William Griffiths was born 16 December 1889 in Birchfield, Westport, West Coast, New Zealand. His father was Mr George Griffiths, Birchfield, Westport. He was single, an engineer employed by his father, Church of England and enlisted in Birchfield 03 October 1914. His Unit was: NZEF, New Zealand and Australian Division, New Zealand Infantry Brigade, Canterburdy Infantry Battalion, 13 (North Canterbury and Westland) Company. HMNZT Vessel: Verdala or Willochra or Knight of the Garter. Destination: Suez, Egypt. He served in Egypt and Gallipoli.William died of an illness, Monday 6 December 1918, age 29 years. He was buried in the Waimangaroa Cemetery.

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Waimangaroa Cemetery

Links

• FindAGrave
• BillionGraves

Sources

1. ↑ Ross, Philip May, 'The West Coast Gold Rushes' Pegasus, Christchurch, 1976.
2. ↑ Waimangaroa cemetery
3. ↑ 1917 Newspaper: "Papers Past, National Library of New Zealand"
   Greymouth Evening Star, 28 May 1917, Page 7
   [https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/GEST19170528.2.26?end_date=31-12-1989&items_per_page=10&phrase=2&query=Waimangaroa+cemetery& snippet=true&sort_by=byDA&start_date=01-01-1880&title=CHARG%2cGRA%2cGEST%2cHOG%2cIT%2cKUMAT%2cLTCBG%2cWCT%2cWEST Papers Past Article] (accessed 18 April 2024)
4. ↑ Memorial: Find a Grave (has image)
   Find A Grave: Memorial #141719501 (accessed 18 April 2024)
   Memorial page for Margaret Hennesey Sherlock (1860-20 Aug 1911), citing Waimangaroa Cemetery, Waimangaroa, Buller District, West Coast, New Zealand (plot: 90); Maintained by MystikNZ (contributor 48009964).
5. ↑ 1920 Newspaper: "Papers Past, National Library of New Zealand"
   Grey River Argus, 4 September 1920, Page 8
   Papers Past Article (accessed 19 April 2024)
6. ↑ 1917 Newspaper: "Papers Past, National Library of New Zealand"
   Hokitika Guardian, 29 May 1917, Page 2
   Papers Past Article (accessed 18 April 2024)
7. ↑ Auckland Museum Online Cenotaph
8. ↑ NZ War Graves
9. ↑ Commonwealth War Graves Commission