Memorial marks new resting place for early settlers’ graves
William there. They moved to New Zealand, where she had three children, shortly after.
“Mary Ann was gone by the time she was 28. I felt strongly that she deserved better than to be left up there. So did all the people buried in the cemetery,” Smyth said.
Fourteen graves were excavated, all members of the Spickman and Nisbet families, either of natural descent or by marriage.
“Burials included adults, children and infants spanning the 73 years the cemetery was in use,” Robinson said.
“All burial remains and coffin pieces were collected and re-interred in the Settlers Heritage section of the public cemetery in December 2019. The unveiling of the memorial brought closure to the process for both descendants and the agencies who undertook this work.”
There had been compelling reasons for an ‘archaeological intervention’.
“Over the years there have been several floods, and continued erosion of the escarpment above and below the cemetery terrace were beginning to cause problems,” he added.
“Two of the large headstone monuments were coming closer to the edge of the terrace, and the surrounding boundary fence of the cemetery had already started to collapse on the southern side of the terrace towards the road.
“The exhumations were timely and undertaken with sensitivity by Waka Kotahi and the team directly involved in the work.”
Smyth said she had begun working with Waka Kotahi on the re-interment in September 2015, and “What we’ve ended up with is the most amazing, stunning memorial.”
There was a great deal of work to do, however.
“Our team entered the area using maps and carrying knives to clear thick vegetation by hand, as they searched for signs of the graveyard,” Waka Kotahi regional manager Auckland and Northland Jacqui Hori-Hoult said. “Access to the area was problematic. It was clear the graveyard had been neglected for some time. The tombstones could not be seen on aerial surveys of the area, and were invisible from the roadside.”
Having located the graveyard, it was discovered that the headstones were in danger of falling on to the road below due to long-term deterioration of the surrounding landscape and a slip caused by heavy rains.
“They were completely covered in bush, sitting 13 metres up from the roadside at a 30-degree angle and in imminent danger of slipping,” she added.
“Our initial thoughts were to build a retaining wall, but as we thought that would disturb the graves we worked with the family about the opportunity to move their loved ones.”
Once all were agreed, a multiagency project was initiated to restore the plot. Heritage NZ, the Ministry of Health, the Far North District Council, Whangaroa College and family descendants were among those involved, alongside the landowner. An historical survey, engineering report and paleo-archaeological medical report were all commissioned, with permission also given to exhume and relocate the graves.
“Originally we thought there were six graves, but as works progressed further headstones and remains were discovered. Fourteen graves were subsequently found,” Hori-Hoult said.
They included Spickman’s sons, daughter, son-in-law, grandson, and his daughter’s four grandsons.
Repairing the headstones had been complicated by tombstones by Covid-19, which caused a delay in carrying out the work and obtaining the granite, but all the graves were now fully restored or had new headstones, Fulton Hogan repairing the slope and surrounding area, and adding benches and landscaping.
An information board, including a family tree, had also been placed there.