Plans For Omaka Cemetery

Plans are under way to re-open Omaka Cemetery for burials.

The cemetery, which spreads across land on each side of Taylor Pass Road adjacent to Wairau Hospital, was closed in 1976 although the exact reasons for its closure are not clear.

There is space immediately available for about 100 plots and some open land that could also be used in future.

Omaka is an historic cemetery; its family mausoleums and wrought ironwork date back to the settlement of Blenheim and many of the region’s leading figures from earlier times are buried there. The cemetery is divided into various sections including a paupers’ section, a separate Catholic burial area, an RSA section and a children’s burial area.

Today, few cemeteries allow for family plots but these are very much a feature at Omaka. However, any future application to build mausoleums or family plot enclosures would be considered by Council on a case-by-case basis as some may require building consent and all would have to be in keeping with the historic nature of the cemetery.

The decision to re-open the cemetery only awaits final sign-off by the Ministry of Health.