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Firefighter James Christopher King on his wedding day. He is one of those whose unnamed ashes are interred in the vault. (Source: Supplied)<\/p>\n
The question of how they came to be there has remained unanswered for decades. For family members, it’s been painful and frustrating. <\/p>\n
Other families have no idea that the remains of their relatives are in a sort of mass burial, beneath the lawn, beside “the toilet house” of the cemetery\u2019s historic Chapel of the Faith. <\/p>\n
In 1969, the crematorium that housed hundreds of urns was demolished, and the urns were moved into the cemetery’s historic chapel building. The following year, the Council decided to restore the chapel and move the ashes again, along with more than a thousand others. Many of the identifying name tags were removed before the urns were stacked and sealed in the vaults. The last urns were put there in 1979. <\/p>\n
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Image shows how “large tanks were sunk into the law to use the 2000 urns. (Source: Supplied)<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were real people, and they were taken out of here and put into underground vaults,\u201d says Terry Pomare Fergusson, who has been fighting to have the remains of his father, Hudson Pomare Fergusson, returned so they can be buried in the family\u2019s urup\u0101 up north. <\/p>\n
Every year, more families come forward with the same request. The Auckland Council says it\u2019s impossible. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf we could get them back out, we would absolutely do that,\u201d says Sheree Stout, the council\u2019s regional Cemetery Operations Manager. \u201cIt’s the right thing to do. But unfortunately, it’s just not physically possible. There would be no way of retrieving or being able to identify individual deceased in those vaults.\u201d <\/p>\n
Stout believes it’s likely the vaults are now water damaged. She also didn’t know why the urns had their nametags removed before they were placed in the concrete vaults. <\/p>\n
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Reverend Ivo Edgar Bertram, pictured with wife Evelyn and sons George and James, is among the unnamed deceased in the vaults.\u00a0 (Source: Supplied)<\/p>\n
‘It’s something we could have done better’<\/p>\n
Between 1970 and 1978, before the council buried the urns, it placed notices in local newspapers, inviting family members to come and collect their loved ones’ ashes.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would have been some time between, obviously, the sending out of those invitations to family and then the day of entering them into the ground,\u201d says Stout. <\/p>\n
According to its own records, the Council had contact details for each next of kin, but decided it wasn\u2019t practical to contact everyone. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt wouldn\u2019t happen today,\u201d says Stout. \u201cIt\u2019s something I believe that we could have done better, and we certainly do a lot better now.\u201d <\/p>\n
Fergusson and others have been asking the council for a proper memorial for the nearly 2000 deceased.<\/p>\n
Council records also show the erection of a plaque, featuring all of their names, was proposed more than 50 years ago. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just mind-blowing that these people just will not even consider a memorial for these people, these human remains that were somebody’s family,\u201d says Fergusson. <\/p>\n
Who were they and what were their stories?<\/p>\n
The council has a record of the names of the deceased, available on its website, and says it’s still in the process of updating these. Comparing its details with records across other government archives, reveals a time capsule of New Zealand history. <\/p>\n
Among those listed is Phyllis Boyd, a \u201cGames Mistress\u201d who died at the age of 36 in 1944. Clarice Lucretia Carver, who died in 1945, aged 40, worked as a stenographer. <\/p>\n
There were farmers, sea merchants, bootmakers, Ironmongers, and a milkman. Forty-five-year-old Clifton Daw worked as a meteor mechanic and James Christopher King was a “waterside worker,” awarded a Firefighter service medal for years of service, before he tragically drowned in 1932, aged 58.<\/p>\n
Few women were listed with job titles, most were described as \u201cHome-maker\u201d or \u201cHousewife\u201d. Those who died childless and unmarried were listed as “Spinster\u201d. <\/p>\n
Well-to-do men like Josh Bush Brown, a Scottish immigrant who was the first person to be cremated at Waikumete in 1923, was recorded as “Gentleman”. <\/p>\n
There are dozens of children and babies buried in the vaults too. Six-year-old Noeline Margaret Cantwell is interred along with her Father, William Alfred Caspar Cantwell, who died 10 years after her in 1953. Five-month-old Geoffrey Brocket, is the youngest name on the list. <\/p>\n
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War heros lie unnamed in the vaults. (Source: istock.com)<\/p>\n
Lest we forget<\/p>\n
Today, thousands of soldiers across the country are being remembered in ANZAC memorial services, including at Waikumete \u2013 the cemetery holds the largest number of service members’ graves in the country. And who would guess that, less than a kilometre away, dozens of fellow war veterans, equally deserving of love and respect, lie in unnamed vaults. <\/p>\n
Among them are decorated war heroes such as Private Albert Henry Boreham, a prison warden who fought in WWI. And there is Stanley Barrett Russell Rutledge, WWI. And Captain George Brodie, who fought in both world wars. <\/p>\n
Has the Council forgotten about them? <\/p>\n
\u201cNo, not at all,\u201d says Stout who, in a plot twist, was shocked to discover one of her great uncles on the list of those buried in the vaults. Stout and her family have no idea how he ended up there. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt certainly is a missed opportunity and we now feel it’s time to get something done,\u201d she says, referring to the ongoing campaign by family members for a plaque featuring their loved ones’ names.<\/p>\n
How much longer do they need to wait? <\/p>\n
Stout doesn’t give a firm date, but she knows it’s unfinished business. <\/p>\n
“I want to make sure that we get it right.\u201d <\/p>\n
To check if you have a loved one or ancestor interred in these vaults at Waikumete Cemetery, you can search the Council’s Register in the documents below. To get in touch, email indira.stewart@tvnz.co.nz \/ indepth@tvnz.co.nz<\/p>\n
Internments Register Surnames A-C<\/a> , Surnames D-G<\/a> , Surnames H-L<\/a>, Surnames M-Q<\/a>, Surnames R-Z<\/a><\/p>\n