Future of settlers’ cemetery rests with district council
The first Scandinavian settlers who pressed up into northern Wairarapa in the 1880s faced a wall of bush and an uncertain future.
Many of those hardy Danes with names like Gunder Gundersen and Lars Larsen are still there, at rest in a picturesque hilltop burial ground in Mauriceville West – nestled in the hinterland halfway between Masterton and Eketa¯huna.
The Lutheran Church that stood on the site was taken away a year ago and the future of the cemetery was in doubt but Masterton District Council chose to take over responsibility on Wednesday.
Wairarapa historian Gareth Winter considered the burial ground to be ‘‘one of the most important Pa¯keha¯ heritage sites in Wairarapa’’, because it tells the region’s intriguing Scandinavian story.
‘‘The Mauriceville area is a unique and important part of Masterton’s heritage, being the centre of a significant Scandinavian settlement. For the first generation, the Lutheran Church played an important part in their lives and many of those original settlers are buried within the grounds.’’
Winter said the government of the time actively sought Scandinavian settlers as they had a reputation of being able land clearers and farmers.
Masterton retiree Harold Devenport’s great-grandfather, Gunder Gundersen, was one of those trailblazers from Denmark who lieswith the rest of his family in the cemetery.
Devenport said it must have been terrifying for some of those early families trying to carve their place out of the thick bush in the middle of nowhere.
‘‘You have got to feel proud of what your ancestors achieved and they became quite prominent in the district.’’
He was pleased the council had agreed
to take over the burial ground.
‘‘It is a common visiting spot for a lot of people coming to see where their ancestors lived and now we know it is going to be maintained.’’
As part of Friends of Mauriceville group, Devenport has kept an eye on developments with the site and said it was sad to see the church go but he understood why.
After the church congregation dwindled to a few elderly members, with the remaining parishioners attending services in other parts of Wairarapa, the church building was sold and removed.
Trustees for the land’s owners, Mauriceville West Lutheran Church and Burial Ground Trust, proposed to transfer the site into council ownership including the ongoing management of the historic burial ground.
The Masterton District Council unanimously voted on Wednesday to accept the transfer with the agreement subject to consultation with the local community.
The council would then have to decide whether the site would remain open as a denominational Lutheran burial ground, opened up as a community cemetery or closed to further burials and managed as a historic site.
A similar cemetery site in the area costs about $1600 a year tomaintain.
The first church was built on the site in 1882 but deteriorated over the years, and was demolished and replaced in 1957.
Though the location was well out of the way of State Highway 2 traffic between Masterton and Eketa¯huna, the route through back roads had become popular with cyclists.
Locals had proposed creating a Scandinavian bike tour route through the area.