User:Auckland Research

Symonds Street Cemetery is one of the oldest cemeteries in Auckland and the first official burial ground. Here are located the graves of many of Auckland's early settlers including Captain William Hobson, the first Governor of New Zealand who died in 1842. The cemetery was officially closed in 1905 when it was handed over to the Auckland City Council as a park. When the motorway system was constructed in the mid 1960s, it required the moving of over 4100 bodies. These were reinterred in two memorial sites within the cemetery. This was Auckland's major public cemetery from 1840 to 1886 and covers an area of about six hectares. Closed for over 100 years, this once peaceful resting place is now overwhelmed by the roar of the motorway and busy Symonds Street. It is one of Auckland's most historic public reserves which extends from the motorway up the slope of Grafton Gully, under Grafton Bridge and intersected by Symonds Street, along a block to the corner of Karangahape Road. Unfortunately this area has a history of vandalism and assaults so exploring the dark and secluded corners of the cemetery along is not advisable. The cemetery was developed as five separate cemeteries - Jewish section, Catholic section, Presbyterian section, Anglican section and a combined Wesleyan and general section. Each was run by its own trust board during most of the years it was used for burials. It is in the Anglican section that you will also find the grave of Captain William Hobson who was New Zealand's first Governor