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Nelson Historical Society Journal, Volume 2, Issue 6, April 1973

Wakapuaka Cemetery

Wakapuaka Cemetery

When a decision was made in the late 1850's to close the Hallowell cemetery in Shelbourne Street the Provincial Secretary, Alfred Domett, advertised for a block of land which could be be used for a cemetery. It was not to be in the town nor to be more distant than two miles from Trafalgar Square and also to consist of not less than 25 acres. The present site was chosen from the properties offered. In February 1861 tenders were called for sixty chains of wood fencing but this suffered badly in a fire in March 1864. A bush fire spread through the grounds destroying trees and consumed a considerable portion of the fencing. (The new lawn cemetery at Marsden Valley was consecrated in 1956).

J. D. Peart, in Old Tasman Bay, stated that the hill occupied by the cemetery was said to have been the site of a fortified Maori pa.