Municipal Cemetery
Tapu
Thames Coromandel, New Zealand
Municipal Cemetery, Tapu
In the Tapu Cemetery, rest many of the early pioneers of the district, and on the headstones read the names of those whose descendants still live in the area. Many graves are unmarked. Apparently this place was always a Maori burial ground, and in the early days it was agreed between the local Maori and Europeans, that any residents could be buried in this sacred ground [this may indicate why the area is known as ‘Tapu’] generally in family plots. However, the area has never been gazetted as an official cemetery as the Thames County has no records whatsoever and over the years persons were buried more or less indiscriminately, many graves now being unmarked. Eventually, the area known as the Cemetery Point, was sold by the local Maori and was taken over by the Thames-Coromandel council. In 1972 a fence was erected according to the line that had been surveyed prior to the sale of the main block of land, and unfortunately it was later discovered that some unmarked graves are outside this boundary. Some useful websites for additional research: http://freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~althea/ http://pearlspad.net.nz/Tapu-KeretaSchool.htm http://thamesnz-genealogy.blogspot.co.nz/2011/07/tapu-thames-coast-genealogy-resources.html
The GPR holds 46 grave and 108 person records for the cemetery.
The status of the photographing of the cemetery is believed to be complete.
There have been 67 requests for photographs from the cemetery.
The latest details for the cemetery were added on 29 March 2012