Online Cemetery search

The dates on BDM online aren't always the correct one. Using the online cemetery search (if you know the area where a person is likely to have been buried) via Google, is a good way of getting the correct time frame and also other family members names can be found on the plaques. I have found quite a few family names this way.

A link to the Gisborne cemeteries.

 

It is always worth looking at the website for the relevant district or city council (see maps and list of council websites) to see if they have a cemetery database online - many do. Here are some I am aware of and have used successfully (organised from north to south):

Napier (some photos)
Palmerston North and surrounding rural areas
Wellington City and Hutt City (different parts of Greater Wellington)
Waimakariri (the area immediately north of Christchurch)
Christchurch City (most of the entries for the Barbadoes Street cemetery, one of the older burial areas, are missing)
Ashburton and some other rural Mid Canterbury cemeteries (this is in the form of alphabetical listings by surname)
Timaru (with photos of many of the gravestones)
Waimate, South Canterbury (see database link at the bottom of the page)

These sites usually do not include any listings from church graveyards, but rather are listings from the municipal cemeteries - but most NZ burials will be in those municipal cemeteries. There is a more complete listing of NZ cemetery sites here, which looks to have been updated recently, but I haven't tested its links.

 

Hi Suzanne
I have tested the link to that cemetery site - it is probably one of the most valuable links for New Zealand genealogy - might be helpful to others if it was made more obvious.
Regards
Emmy

 

I really hope more councils come on board with making online searches available.

I've also invested in the NZSG burial c.d. (version 2) which can help locate someone, in order to pinpoint which cemetery to then look in.

 

Did the cd give you an answer to Jenata's question? I looked at the NZSG site the other day, wondering if I wanted to buy the cd, but it did not seem to be listed any more.

 

Yes, there was information to be found - I hope she logs in and sees it.

I haven't been on the NZSG website for several months, so I'm not sure if the c.d is currently available, sorry. I am very happy to do look-ups for people on it though, if anyone wants.

 

Just noticed I didn't repost the link as requested: Websites of New Zealand Cemeteries
The site lists cemeteries alphabetically, mostly by city/district, but some are listed by name so you may need to look through the whole list. My post above has links to maps showing present-day city/district boundaries.

 

I have just noticed an article in my local Selwyn District (South/West of Christchurch) weekly newspaper announcing a new searchable database listing more than 10,000 individuals from the 19 public cemeteries in Selwyn District. Each entry shows Name/Cemetery/Date/Age and an initial glance suggests that dates range from about 1879-2012. The database can be found here and work has also started on photographing headstones in those cemeteries.

 

Ooh that's good news, thanks - I suspect I have lots of relatives in the Ellesmere cemetery.