Southland
| Invercargill | Pukerau | Ryal Bush |
Invercargill
The Invercargill Cemetery Database. The website provides access to more than 55,600 records for the four Invercargill and Bluff cemeteries and the Southland Crematorium. The cemeteries and crematorium are operated by the Council’s Parks Division. Information updated December 2013.
http://www.icc.govt.nz/ServicesA-Z/Cemeteries/CemeterySearch.aspx
Pukerau Cemetery
The Cemetery Reserve covers seven acres of land. The Cemeteries Management Act of 1877 stated “that no railing, gravestone or monument can be set up or any other inscription made without the written consent of the Trustees of the Pukerau Cemetery”.
The cemetery was opened for burials in 1882 and is located at the end of East Street (the first street on your left when travelling from Balclutha).
The cemetery was transcribed in 1977 and the transcripts cover 1882-1975 with a total of 106 plots and 238 burials. Copies of these transcripts are available on microfiche as part of the New Zealand Society of Genealogists Cemetery Microfiche Collection.
Gore District Council have their cemetery records on-line. As Pukerau falls within the Gore District Council it is therefore possible to search Pukerau cemetery online at
http://www.goredc.govt.nz/applications/Cemeteries/Cemetery_Search.asp
Surnames found in the cemetery include:
| NAME |
|---|
| ALLAN |
| ANDREW |
| BENSON |
| BOARD |
| BOTHERWAY |
| BOYLE |
| BROWN |
| BROWNING |
| BURROWS |
| COLLETT |
| CORRANS |
| COUPERTHWAITE |
| CRAIGIE |
| CRAWFORD |
| DENNEHY |
| DUDLY |
| EASIE |
| EDWARDS |
| FLANAGHAN |
| GARDINER |
| GLOVER |
| GREALISH |
| GREEN |
| GUNN |
| GUTHRIE |
| HAMILTON |
| HANNAY |
| HARVEY |
| HERRON |
| HEY |
| HOCKING |
| IRVINE |
| ISTED |
| JOHNSTONE |
| McCOLL |
| McCRORIE |
| McDONALD |
| McINTOSH |
| McINTYRE |
| McKENZIE |
| McNEE |
| MARSHALL |
| MAXTED |
| MEEKING |
| MIILAR |
| MULLINS |
| MURRAY |
| MURTAH |
| NORTON |
| O’CALLAGHAN |
| O’HAGAN |
| OLSEN |
| ORCHARD |
| PETRIE |
| POTTER |
| PULLAR |
| PURVIS |
| REDMAN |
| ROBB |
| ROBERTSON |
| ROSS |
| SCOTT |
| SCOULAR |
| SHARP |
| SMITH |
| SPEDEN |
| STEPHENSON |
| STEWART |
| SYTLES |
| TRAPSKI |
| TURNER |
| VALENTINE |
| VOIGHT |
| WENNERBECK |
| WINNERBECK |
| WHEELER |
| YOUNG |
Ryal Bush
Ryal Bush is a farming locality between the Makarewa and Oreti Rivers in Southland. It is located 19 kilometres north of Invercargill.
Ryal Bush is a farming locality between the Makarewa and Oreti Rivers in Southland. It is located 19 kilometres north of Invercargill.
The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Otago & Southland Provincial Districts] published in 1905 gives a wonderful snapshot of what the area was like at the turn of the twentieth century. It reads:
“Ryal Bush is a rural district, ten miles from Invercargill by railway, and twelve miles by road. It is in the Wallacetown riding of the county of Southland, and in the electoral district of Awarua. The population, at the census of 1901, was 218. The whole countryside, in the early days of the settlement, was one dense bush, of which many pretty patches still remain, to remind the old pioneers what the country was like when they first saw it. The main road from Invercargill to Winton passes through Ryal Bush, and also the Invercargill-Kingston line of railway. Seven miles further on, is the borough town of Winton, which is also connected by an excellent cycling road, which passes through the fertile district of Forest Hill. The district is supposed to have taken its name from an early settler named Ryal.
Ryal Bush has an English church, at which services are held by the vicar of Winton, who is assisted by lay readers. There is an excellent public school, and also a hall, in which Presbyterian church services are held once a fortnight. The district is devoted to agriculture, dairy-farming; and, in addition to moderate-sized farms, there are deferred-payment selections from fifteen to twenty acres. The local railway station stands ninety-two feet above the level of the sea. It is within two miles of the station at Wilson’s crossing; and Branxholme station, on the Invercargill Orepuki line, is also available for settlers in the district.
The Ryal Bush Post Office And Telephone Bureau was established in 1893, and is conducted at the schoolhouse. Mails are received on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays in each week, and the outward mails are despatched on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Mr John Officer, headmaster of the public school, acts as postmaster.
The Ryal Bush Public School was established in the early seventies. The building, which is of wood, occupies part of a section of three acres of land, the gift of Mr James Blaikie. There is accommodation for fifty children, and the average attendance is about thirty. There is a good playground, well sheltered by a plantation of trees, and a school residence of six rooms and offices. There is also a public hall erected on the property.
All Saint’s Church, Ryal Bush, is one of the oldest churches in Southland. Its oldest portion was built in 1861, and consecrated by Bishop Harper, of Christchurch, when Southland was part of his diocese. The building, which is of wood and iron, has since been enlarged, and is surrounded by a neatly-kept cemetery, The church has accommodation for one hundred and twenty people, and services are regularly held by the vicar of Winton, who is assisted by a lay reader”. .
WALLACETOWN
Wallacetown is one of the very early settlements in Southland, in fact it was near the site first thought of as being the main town for the province.
It is located on the banks of the Makarewa River, a major tributary of the Oreti River, 15 kilometres north west of Invercargill and four kilometres from Ryal Bush. It is believed it was named after the area of Wallacetown in the Ayr on the shoreline of the First of Clyde.
The area was well served by Cobb & Co Coaches, and later by railways.
The Wallacetown saleyards were established in 1883, and the freezing works in 1884. A school, hotel, post office, Presbyterian Church and blacksmiths served the settlement. The Underwood Milk Preserving Works was established in 1892 by Robert Blair, and then owned by W. T. Murray and Company. The Nestle organisation bought a 55% interest in 1926 and took it over completely in 1938. The works included tin and box making machinery and a butter-making department, but become particularly associated with Highlander Sweetened Condensed Milk. The Nestle factory closed in 1964. .
SCHOOLS
Ryal Bush School has now closed. Its Admission, Progress and Withdrawal (APW) registers 1925-1988 are in the Invercargill Public Library.
Most pupils now attend Wallacetown School which opened in a building erected by the settlers in 1870. The early settlers maintained the school at their own cost, until the Southland Board of Education took the school under its control in 1877. The APW registers for Wallacetown School 1873-1926 are also in the Invercargill Public Library.
The contact details for the Invercargill Public Library is:
Information Services, Invercargill City Libraries, Private Bag 90111, Invercargill
Telephone: (03) 211 1770 Fax: (03) 211 1438
Email: info@ilibrary.co.nz
Website: www.ilibrary.co.nz
Opening Hours: Monday-Friday 9 am – 8 pm; Saturday 10 am – 1pm and Sunday 1pm – 4 pm.
CEMETERY
There is a private cemetery at Ryal Bush. This cemetery is attached to the All Saint’s Church at Ryal Bush at 263 Ryal Bush Wallacetown Road.
The Ryal Bush headstones have been transcribed from 1866-1970 and are available on microfiche at most libraries (T01.11).
The church records for All Saint’s Church have been deposited into the Hocken Collections in Dunedin. The collection includes a baptismal register (1861-1878), a burial register (1871-1942), a register of service (1932-1977), cemetery records and some photographs.
The surnames of burials in the cemetery include:
ANDREWS
ARBUCKLE
BALDEY
BREESE
BUXTON
COOK
COOMBES
CRAIG
GILMOUR
GOLDSMITH
However many of the original settlers from Ryal Bush were buried in nearby Wallacetown. There is an “Old” cemetery and a “New” cemetery.
Both cemeteries have had their headstones transcribed.
The “Old” cemetery covers 1861-1950 and the “New” cemetery 1871-1971. Both transcripts are on microfiche – “Old” cemetery (T01.152) and the “New” cemetery (T01.14). The new Wallacetown cemetery is at the end of Ballantrae Street (turn off Riverton Road at the shop).
To locate the “Old” cemetery turn off Highway 99 onto Cumnock Street (the last on the left when travelling west) and following it to the intersection with Aloway Street.
Surnames associated with the Old Wallacetown Cemetery 1861-1950 include:
ALLAN
APPS
BAKER
BISSETT
BLAKIE
BLUE
BOYD
BRASS
CROOK
BUCHANAN
CAMERON
CHRISTIE
COOKBURN
COOPER
DEWAR
ELLIOTTE
FINLAYSON
FLEMING
FORTUNE
GEDNEY
GIBBONS
GORDON
GORMAN GRAY
GREEN
GRIEVE
HAMILTON
HAY
HOGG
HURLER
INGLIS
JENKINS
JUDGE
LAIDLAW
LAING
LAWRIE
LAWSON
LINDSAY
McCALLUM
McCROSTIE
McDERMID
MacDONALD
McGILLIVRAY
McILWRICK
McINTYRE
McLEAN
McLELLAN
McLEOD
McPHERSON
MABIN (MABEN)
MANN
MILLIGAN
MITCHELL
MOFFAT
MUIR
NICHOLL
NOBLE
O’CONNOR
PATON
PATTERSON
PERKINS
PETERS
PINK
POWELL
RANKIN
RHIND
RIDDLE
RONALD
STEANS
STEEL
STEVENSON
STEWART
STRACHAN
TAIT
TUNNICLIFFE
WALLACE
WATSON
WILLIAMS
WILSON
WOODWARD
YOUNG .