Locating burials
If the burial took place in Christchurch start with
- Christchurch City Council Cemeteries Database
- This database includes interments from the following cemeteries: Addington, Avonhead Park, Belfast, Bromley, Linwood, Memorial Park, Ruru Lawn, Sydenham, Waimairi, Woolston/Heathcote and Yaldhurst. There are only a small number of Barbadoes Street records in the database. Records from the Banks Peninsula area are not currently included but will be in the future.
- Cemetery transcriptions, Christchurch
- This CD Rom is available on the Family History computers, Central Library Peterborough and at Upper Riccarton Library. Included are: transcriptions of headstones in the Memorial Park Cemetery to February 2002; the Ruru Lawn Cemetery to 2001; the Waimairi Cemetery to 1998. There are photographs and maps of all three cemeteries.
If the date of death is known, try these resources
- Tombstone transcripts: Christchurch and Canterbury
- Cemetery burial books and plot plans
- Newspaper death and burial notices
- Church Register Index
- Index to the Registrar-General’s births, deaths & marriages
- Funeral directors and crematoria
If the date of death is not known, use
- Church Register Index
- The G.R. Macdonald dictionary
- Wills: probate records
- Index to Registrar-General’s births, deaths & marriages
- Electoral rolls and Wise’s directories
If the name of the cemetery has changed, look at
If the burial took place in Canterbury, but outside Christchurch, try
- Church Register Index
- Tombstone transcripts: Christchurch and Canterbury
- Canterbury burial books for the area beyond Christchurch
- Tombstone transcripts: elsewhere in New Zealand
If the burial took place elsewhere in New Zealand, try
- Tombstone transcripts: elsewhere in New Zealand
- Cemeteries and cemetery records - links to cemetery databases and information from around New Zealand
If there was an unnatural death or an accident, look at
Updated: April 2012
