Waikumete Cemetery 4.74

Waikumete Cemetery is New Zealand's largest cemetery. It occupies a site of 108 hectares in Glen Eden, Auckland, and also contains a crematorium in the south-west corner of the cemetery.DescriptionWaikumete Cemetery was established in 1886 and is the final resting place for over 70,000 people. The Chapel of Faith in the Oaks was built in 1886 as a mortuary chapel and was used until the larger chapel was built in 1952. It is available for hire for religious services.Waikumete is home to a number of prominent historical areas including the Erebus Memorial, Holocaust Memorial, NZ Influenza Epidemic memorial and the ANZAC Cenotaph.War gravesTwo extensive areas of the cemetery were given over for burial of service personnel of the World Wars and post-war veterans. In all, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) register and maintain the graves of 285 Commonwealth service personnel here, 110 from World War I and 176 from World War II.In the entrance of the cemetery the CWGC erected the Auckland Provincial Memorial, commemorating 56 service personnel from Auckland Province who died serving in and around New Zealand in both World Wars but have no known grave.The CWGC also commemorate 44 service personnel of World War II cremated at Waikumete Crematorium where, most recently in 1999, they erected a memorial to seven personnel whose ashes were formerly stored in the chapel building and which was placed on the site of their final resting place in the chapel lawn.