Colin Ambler/cvnznews.com
The Dunedin City Council has received a significant Government grant to research unmarked graves of people who died while in institutional care in the Dunedin area.
The Department of Internal Affairs, as part of its Survivor Support and Recognition Fund, has allocated $188,707 to the DCC to help honour those who died in care institutions.
Due to the unknown number of sites and unmarked graves within the Dunedin region, the DCC sought the funding in order to begin research and engagement processes. This involves asking members of the public and interested parties for relevant information, including via an online information form.
The Dunedin region has a long history of largescale institutional care, including psychiatric hospitals and psychopaedic facilities such as Seacliff Lunatic Asylum, the Dunedin Lunatic Asylum, Cherry Farm and Mt View Asylum, as well as welfare homes and church-run institutions. Many of these operated during periods when people who died in care were buried in local cemeteries, often in “pauper’s plots” or unmarked graves.
Next steps include constructing a verified list of deaths and burial locations as well as physically identifying potential burial locations of former patients at Seacliff and Cherry Farm, among other institutions.
The DCC will also engage with mana whenua and whānau on how to best acknowledge those who have passed on. This will determine what is appropriate in regards memorialising and acknowledging those buried in unmarked graves.
The DCC was among seven local authorities to receive funding as part of the Government’s continuing response to the Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquiry.
The Royal Commission found there are at least 4000 unmarked graves associated with psychiatric and psychopaedic sites in Auckland, Waikato, Nelson, Rangitikei, Horowhenua, Porirua, Otago, Westland and Canterbury.
