Services - Cemeteries |
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City Parks Services looks after three of our city's older cemeteries that are still open - Waikaraka, which opened in 1890, Otahuhu, which opened in 1894 and Hillsborough, which opened in 1916 - as well as cemeteries on Waiheke Island and Great Barrier Island. These cemeteries are all operated on behalf of Auckland Council.
The City Parks Services cemeteries team provides full administrative and operational services for cemeteries. This includes office management and administration, burial services, total grounds maintenance and gardening services. The team is proud to provide traditional burial services from first point of contact through to memorialisation.
The staff working at the cemeteries are generally chosen for their empathetic nature and enjoyment of helping people, as they frequently need to interact with people at an emotional time of their lives. Enquiries from funeral directors and bereaved families all pass through Waikaraka cemetery, which is where the principal cemetery depot is located.
Cemetery maintenance generally consists of mowing and weedeating, blowing the paths free of leaves, gardening and removing litter. Staff still dig graves by hand, mainly because of the inaccessibility of many of the grave sites. Most sites have been pre-purchased, and some graves are re-opened to enable close family to be at rest together.
A recent visitor to Otahuhu cemetery wrote to City Parks Services saying: "It is now equally as well kept as in the best years. It is a credit to those who maintain it."
Benefits
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