1918 Influenza Project Karori Cemetery

02/11/2025

This is a wonderful record of the Hokianga during the epidemic in 1918, but more importantly how the community worked to stop the spread and care for their own.

22/03/2025

The sun is shining, so if you're now regretting not booking for the last tour of the summer season don't worry about it - just turn up at the Museum in lower Bolton Street before 2.00pm, preferably with cash to pay $10 pp, and join the Crime & Punishment tour. We'll finish back at the Museum at about 3.30, and there's some fascinating stories told along the way.

24/08/2022

When William WEAVER's wife Victoria Mabel EGGERS died three weeks after giving birth to their son in 1914, she was buried in the Public section of Karori Cemetery. Her plot, probably never paid for, is unmarked to this day. William married again about 12 months later, and he and his wife Mabel both died of influenza during the epidemic in November 1918, and they were buried together in the Anglican section. We have recently been sent photos of a Memorial card for Victoria, which includes her photograph, so have added them to the Weaver page on the project website. We continue to welcome inquiries, additional or corrected information, and photos, so please review the information on the website and contact us on [email protected]
Website is www.1918influenzakarori.weebly.com

09/04/2021

It's 2.5 years since we finished the 1918 influenza project at Karori Cemetery. I am DELIGHTED to announce that at long last there's more information available to those passing through the cemetery and wondering about the white crosses, which mark many of the graves. Seven brightly painted posts with, QR codes, have been installed, 2 each in the Anglican, Catholic and Public areas, and 1 overlooking the Services area. The QR code links to a special page on the project website which explains the significance of the crosses and links to the page with the names of all those commemorated during this project, and the stories of 175 of them.
www.1918influenzakarori.weebly.com
Thank you to WCC for funds, Speedy Signs for the QR code badges, to Bobcat Chris and his team for the installation, and to Lisa and Marcello's team for all sorts of assistance.

26/12/2020

https://www.facebook.com/100003030772191/posts/3433480143429644/

15/09/2020

Stories of those who died of flu in 1918 and were buried in Karori Cemetery continue to be updated. Here's the latest.

A project to restore the collective memory about the 1918 influenza epidemic in Wellington, where more than 600 people were buried at Karori Cemetery

29/05/2020

Article: "Why are There Almost no Memorials to the Flu of 1918?"

This article is posted on the New York Times website.

A restaurant owner in Vermont and a professor from New Zealand are among the few to commemorate the most lethal pandemic since the bubonic plague.

28/04/2020

Good stuff.

More than 100 years ago, a school teacher in a small north island town wrote to the government to tell them how fast influenza had hit.

05/04/2020

Location map for those who died in the 1918 flu epidemic and were buried in Karori Cemetery.

21/03/2020

W D James got as far as Egypt with the NZEF, where he developed catarrah & enteric fever. He was then sent to hospitals in England and after also developing pleurisy was deemed no longer physically fit for active service. He was discharged and returned to NZ mid-1917. His total service, during which he spent most of his time in hospitals, was 1 year 289 days. Presumably he was more vulnerable than many to the influenza virus in 1918 as a result of pleurisy. He was buried with other people who died of influenza in Wellington in November and December 1918 in the Public section of Karori Cemetery. He was one of 63 people buried at Karori on 19 November 1918.

Time to look after yourselves. Thank you to all our wonderful volunteers who have helped to date.

We will still post and showcase work yet now it's time to limit contact and non essential travel.

Individuala will still work on.

We have cancelled planned events today and will switch to online remembrance for the foreseeable future.

The grave shown is symbolic. It's in remembrance of our fighting men who returned from WW1 only to be struck down by the spanish flu. Together we will learn from the past and we will be back NZ....there is still alot of work to do.

Kia kaha NZ.

19/03/2020

E H Barber's headstone features in the 1918 influenza pandemic item in yesterday's media. His story, recounted on https://1918influenzakarori.weebly.com/ernest-barber.html
is particularly interesting - instead of his body being taken home to Invercargill he was buried at Karori 11 days after he died. His family didn't know where he was. The story was uncovered while reading letters at the Imperial War Museum in London.

19/03/2020

There's a very good 2-page spread in this morning's DomPost about the lessons learnt from the 1918 influenza epidemic which are informing current actions - also available in the Press and elsewhere. Prof Rice is the main informant - he was hugely supportive of the influenza project in Karori Cemetery, and gave us his long list of deaths from flu in Wellington which was invaluable for checking against cemetery records to determine which people buried during November & December 1918 died of the flu.