OLD WOODSIDE CEMETERY In the mid-nineteenth century, a small farming and wayside settlement developed at Woodside. One of the earliest buildings erected at Woodside was a small Methodist chapel, opened in 1855. For some years this building served as a school as well as a church. A new church building was opened at the site on 5 May 1901. Immediately prior to its official opening, on 29 April 1901, a one-acre plot of land adjacent to the church was gazetted as a cemetery. It’s possible that burials took place on the site before its formal designation as a cemetery. Church’s records were incomplete, and there were several unmarked graves and unidentified remains on the site. In February 1909, therefore, the Woodside Methodist church building was moved down the Great South Road to a new location in Manurewa. The cemetery, however, remained in place. According to Methodist church records, the church sold the major part of the six acres it owned at Woodside - by now generally known as Wiri - in 1922, retaining only the cemetery portion. THE CLOSURE OF THE CEMETERY In December 1971 representatives of the Methodist church and Manukau City Council met to discuss the prospect of closing the cemetery. It is unclear whether the initiative first came from the church or the council. On 8 March 1973 the Manurewa Methodist church trustees agreed in principle to the cemetery’s closure but resolved that a suitable memorial should be erected to the “pioneers of the district” On 18 October 1973 the trustees considered alternatives put to them by Council over the future of the cemetery. They resolved on the removal of the graves, their re-interment in a communal grave, and the erection of a memorial with a general inscription to the early settlers of the area and the names of those interred given individually. They contacted next-of-kin wherever possible, seeking their approval for the proposal, and asking for more details on those buried there. At the time, the process received some media attention: "Grass waist deep surrounds the Woodside Methodist Cemetery in Wiri Station Rd. Gorse and blackberries cover the graves and the sun has faded the names on many of the inscriptions … Most of the 60 headstones are cracked and broken and most of the graves are overgrown … The cemetery was shabby and neglected, the Rev. W.C. Chapman of Manurewa, said yesterday, and people were pleased that a memorial would be erected in its place" The majority of relatives contacted – all but one - expressed their approval of the process. On 4 March 1974 the Department of Health refused a disinterment license, advising that this matter should be dealt with in the legislation necessary for the closure of the cemetery. Despite this setback, planning p FATE OF THE HEADSTONES The memorial was designed by Carl Stephenson of Manukau City Council’s architectural design staff. The church trustees requested some amendments to the original plan, including the removal of the word ‘Wiri’ from the entrance, but gave their final approval in October 1975. The trustees specified that the headstones should not be incorporated in the memorial but should be removed from the site. Manukau City Council therefore offered the headstones to the next-of-kin. Of the families which replied, only five opted to take the headstones (Dryland, Evans, Finlay, Giles, McNaughton). The remainder asked council to dispose of the headstones. The work of exhumation and re-interment began on 3 November 1975 under the supervision of the Department of Health. A wedding ring found in one of the graves was returned to relatives. The removal of the headstones was completed by 16 December 1975. A total of 40 headstones were removed to Manukau City Council's East Tamaki depot, from where several were picked up by relatives. The remainder were stored there “for a certain time” Copyright © Auckland Libraries. Auckland Libraries are duly acknowledged.