Headstones

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Waikumete Cemetery Headstone - Raymond Graham Harris and Sandra Leeanne Shippham

Waikumete Cemetery, Glen Eden, Waitakere City, Auckland, New Zealand

Notes: Waikumete Cemetery Great North Road, Glen Eden
History
Between 1876 and 1881 a total of 228 acres of vacant land close to the Whau River was reserved by the Crown as a site for a public cemetery. In 1886 this piece of land became the public cemetery known as "Waikomiti". The new cemetery was the result of a pressing need to replace the Symonds Street Cemetery, and was officially opened in 1886.

Waikumete Cemetery and Crematorium now covers an area of 107.7222 hectares and since 1908 has served as the main cemetery for the Auckland Region. It is the largest cemetery in New Zealand and one of the largest in the Southern Hemisphere.

Waikumete has considerable cultural heritage significance. The Cemetery contains the graves of many people who played a significant role, either locally or nationally. The surviving headstones, with their range of styles and inscriptions, are an invaluable source of genealogical and social history.

In addition, the Cemetery provides for a wide range of denominational and cultural groups. It is one of only two cemeteries in the northern half of the North Island where space is currently allocated for Muslim burials. It contains a significant number of mausoleums. In recognition of the need to provide for traditional Maori burials, an Urupa was established in 1996.

The Cemetery, together with its wider environs of bush, valleys and streams, represents the largest public Open Space within the urban part of Waitakere City.

The Cemetery was administered by the Auckland City Council from 1886 until 1989 when control was passed to the Waitakere City Council.

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