Some research that has been done on the Arawata Cemetery.

           Provided by the Haast Field Centre, Haast.

Arawata Pioneer Cemetery

This cemetery is located just beyond Neil’s Beach Village on the left side of the road going towards Jackson’s Bay, South Westland.

Westland County, Westland Province.

A marker on the roadside, and memorial stone at entrance is inscribed: To the memory of the early pioneers who lie at rest here or in some lonely grave. (Stone is conglomerate Upper Palezoic volcanic conglomerate, glacially derived from the mountains to the southwest.) Dated on stone 1.6.1974.

Transcribed October 1980 by the Director of the West Coast Historical Museum, Mr J. Eyles and research added by Mrs J.J. Smith, 228 Revell St, Hokitika. There were 13 definite graves, 3 inscriptions, 2 rock mounds which could be graves.

The cemetery is controlled by the Westland County Council, P.O Box 64, Hokitika. A few records are held but they are known to be incomplete.

Earliest burial known – NATHAN WELHAM, 11 March 1875 (from book "Jacksons Bay" by Irvine Roxburgh). Last Burial not known, but recorded in this transcription as JAMES HEVELDT, 31 July 1901.

Jacksons Bay settlement began in November 1874 and had decreased from 367 people to 50 by 1879.

HEADSTONE INSCRIPTIONS: ARAWATA PIONEER CEMETERY, JACKSONS BAY

JAMES HEVELDT born 4^th July 1881, died 31^st July 1901, aged 20 years.

MURDOCH McPHERSON died 1884 aged 1 year, maternal grandson of JANET SMITH of Arawata died 1893 aged 56. (This is a new headstone and is definitely wrong - should read JAMES SMITH who was the maternal grandfather of Murdoch McPherson.)

BURIELS AND DEATHS GATHERED FROM JACKSONS BAY CENTENNIAL COMMITTEE AND "JACKSONS BAY"  BY IRVINE ROXBURGH:

HEVELDT, Albert, aged 18, son of Joseph Heveldt and his first wife, drowned Arawata River, (date unknown).

HEVELDT, William, aged 5.

HEVELDT, James, aged 20, died 31.7.1901. (Both William and James were sons of  Joseph Heveldt and his second wife Dororhea, who arrived at

                    Jacksons Bay in 1873 from Hanover, Germany.)

McPHERSON, Murdoch, aged 1 yr, (son of Murdoch McPherson, settler, of Okuru).

SMITH, James, aged 56 (maternal grandfather of Murdoch McPherson), early settler.

EGGLING, Henry, Aged 21 yrs (could be son of Louis?).

EGGLING, Louis, aged 62 – arrived Jacksons Bay 1874, death took place on 16 December 1876, aged 57 yrs (the date and age of 57 yrs is recorded

                   in the book "The Haast is South Westland" by John Pascoe).

CUTTANCE, Mrs Lena – date unknown.

TEER, James, died 30 April 1887 (survivor of "General Grant").

NISSON, no other details known.

NOLAN, child – oral evidence, no definite proof.

PORTER, W., drowned Jackson Bay river, 3 August 1886.

WELHAM, Nathan, died 11 March 1875 – first death in settlement.

YELL, Jeremiah – died soon after arrival in March 1875.

ROBINSON, son of Charles, who had the hotel at Waiatoto unti 1886 when a landslip destroyed the hotel and killed his 17 yr old son.

UNKNOWN Polish settler’s wife, killed by falling tree, 29 June 1877, Polish Settlement, Jacksons Bay.

Reference books:

"The Haast is South Westland"  by John Pascoe

"Jacksons Bay"  by Irvine Roxburgh.

             Arawata Cemetery also known as Jackson Bay Cemetery

Jackson Bay Cemetery

Research, Anne Hutchinson, DOC, Hokitika.

The following list is of known deaths which took place in the Jackson Bay area, most would have been buried in the cemetery. Names and information was taken from existing tombstones, gazettes, oral history, newspapers, AJHR, "Haast is in South Westland" by Pascoe: and "Jacksons Bay" by Irvine Roxburgh. As with newspaper and government sources, women and men who had died from sickness were not always recorded, and most children would not have received a mention.

1866

23 Aug: Waraki, an old Maori and a long term resident dies at Jackson Bay.

10 Nov: ….Hunter, a young American drowned while attempting to cross the bay on a raft.

1867

10 Nov: Thomas Friend, aged 23 years, a miner, drowned.

10 Nov: James Buggy, aged 24 years, a miner, drowned.

10 Nov: William Marsden, aged 35 years, a storekeeper, drowned.

              The tragedy occurred at the Arawata River, after James Buggy, William Marsden and Timothy

              Barrett who were starving, signaled for help. In answer to this plea Thomas Friend and James

              Walsh crossed by canoe from their campsite on the northern bank, and were bringing Marsden and

              Buggy back when the rough canoe capsized. Walsh was rescued, Buggy and Friend were washed

              out to sea, and their bodies were discovered on the beach the next day. Marsden’s body was never

              found.

1868

26 Oct: Catherine Howard, aged 2 days, inattention of mother.

             The Howard family had been at Jackson Bay since early 1867, where Mr Howard supported his

             wife and two children by blacksand mining. The Howard family were the subject of a ‘mercy dash’

             with food and supplies sent by boat from Hokitika in November 1867. Mrs Howard appears to have

             had no medical help. In 1875 Warden  McFarlane [Special Settlement] reported the discovery of a

             neatly made coffin containing the remains of a ‘6 month old’ European baby which had been

             disinterred from a road reserve and reburied with some others also found on the reserve at the

             Arawata cemetery. [The child’s burial could have been that of either Catherine Howard or perhaps

             another Howard child]

1875

11 Mar: William Latham [Nathan Welham] a special settler dies.

16 Dec: Louis Eggling, aged 57 years. Had been in ill-health from a stroke from before his arrival and had

              not received any medical treatment for 12 weeks. Left a family of 6 children ranging from adults

              to a boy aged 11 years.

1877

29 Jun: A Polish woman settler killed at Smoothwater when a tree fell on her house.

1877/8

            Warden McFarlane in the AJHR recorded 5 deaths [which included 3 children in 3 weeks], had

             taken place in the Settlement, no names or causes given.

1878

13 Jul: Andrew H Williamson, pioneer and prospector at Big Bay since 1863.

            James Dalzell, an early sttler.

            Jeremiah Yell, an early settler at Jackson Bay, a shipbuilder, native of Orkney.

            John Gabrul, whose wife and family live in Nova Scotia.

            H A Branson, a chemist who was the doctor at the Special Settlement.

1875   These five men along with a Mr Kurowski, whose body was not found, left Jackson Bay in a deeply

             laden open boat. It swamped on a reef outside Big Bay

30 Jul: Henry Chapman, aged 45 years, native of London. Committed suicide Bullock Creek.

1883

5 Nov: Elizabeth Lindsay, aged 58 years.

1884

            Murdoch McPherson, aged 1 year, son of Murdoch McPherson, settler, Okuru.

1886

3 Aug: W Porter drowned at Jackson Bay.

28 Dec: Charles Robinson, aged 13 years. Son of the publican at Royal Hotel, Jackson Bay, killed after the

                hotel was engulfed by a landslide after several days heavy rain.

1887

30 Apr: James Teer born Newcastle Co Down Ireland. A survivor from the ‘General Grant’ wrecked on the

             Auckland Islands. He worked as one of the first ferryman taking people across the Hokitika River

             in the 1864/5 period.

1893

             James Smith, aged 56 years.

1901

31 Jul: James Heveldt, aged 20 years.

            Buried with him is his half brother Albert Heveldt, aged 18 years, drowned in the Arawata River

            [date unknown] and William aged 5 years [date unknown]

            Both William & James were sons of Joseph Heveldt and his second wife, Dorothea who arrived at

            Jackson Bay in 1873 from Hanover, Germany.

Dates Unknown

             Henry Eggling aged 21 years.

             Lena Cuttance

             Nisson

             Nolan Child

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