New Zealand Cemeteries Heritage Week 2015

In the first week of February, Auckland Libraries was delighted to have hosted several events to support New Zealand Cemeteries Heritage Week, which was to celebrate the launch on Ancestry of the New Zealand Society of Genealogists (NZSG) cemetery microfiche.

The cemetery microfiche was the culmination of almost 50 years' worth of work by volunteers from the NZSG - a painstaking process of recording and transcribing cemetery headstones from 1400 public and private cemeteries nationwide, including Māori urupa from 1800 right up until 2007.

The official launch day was held on Monday, 2 February, 2015, at the New Zealand Society of Genealogists head office in Panmure where current NZSG President Gay Williams discussed the history of their Cemetery Collection and explained the work that was behind it.

The launch made the news on TVNZ.

Auckland Libraries hosted events for the following three days:

• S.S.Tararua  - our worst civilian shipwreck, 29 April 1881 - Gay Williams, President, (NZ Society of Genealogists)  
• The shipwreck of the HMS Orpheus on 7 February 1863 - Michael Wynd, Researcher, (National Museum of the Royal New Zealand Navy) 
• The 'Great Flu' pandemic, 1918 - Gay Williams 
• Hawkes Bay Earthquake 3 February 1931 - Christine Clement 
• The Tangiwai Railway Disaster, 24 December 1953 - Gay Williams 
• The Air NZ Erebus disaster, 28 November 1979 - Gay Williams 
• Why can't I locate my NZ ancestors place of burial - David Verran, Local Historian and Team Leader, Central Auckland Research Centre, Auckland Libraries 
• Locating your ancestors through NZSG burial records and Ancestry online (NZ cemetery records 1800 – 2007), Diane Wilson and Gay Williams  

Most of the talks were recorded and the videos can be watched on the Auckland Libraries You Tube channel.

Search the New Zealand Cemetery Records 1800-2007 online with Ancestry.


Happy hunting

Seonaid