Cemeteries and Crematorium
This page describes the three cemeteries and one crematorium operated by Porirua City Council. They are:
Opening hours
All cemeteries are open from 7.30 am to dusk all year round.
Burials
All new burials are now at Whenua Tapu Cemetery. Porirua and Pauatahanui Cemeteries are closed except for second interments and prepurchased family plots.
View Whenua Tapu Cemetery location on the Google map below.
View Larger Map
Fees and Charges
View our burial, cremation and other fees and charges from the link below.
Bookings and enquiries
For bookings and enquiries, please call our Contact Centre on phone (04) 237 5089 24 hours.
Chapel Hire
The Whenua Tapu Crematorium chapel can be hired in 30 minute time slots for a pre-committal/burial service, and refreshments. Please specify the type of service you require and the start/end times when making your booking, ensuring adequate time is allowed for setting up and clearing up.
Operational enquiries
For enquiries about the operation of our cemeteries or the crematorium, please phone the Sexton Marty Climo on (04) 239 9078 during business hours.
Searching Cemetery Records
Records for burials at old Porirua Cemetery, Whenua Tapu Cemetery and Pauatahanui Burial Ground are now searchable online, including headstone images for all three cemeteries. Headstone photography updates are being completed as time and weather permits.
Cremation records are also available from August 1981.
Burial records date from 13 September 1895 for Porirua Cemetery, 1975 for Whenua Tapu, and 1850 for Pauatahanui, and are updated weekly, except during holidays.
Please note that paper records in our archives may differ from database records, as some duplicate rows/plots have been discovered in Porirua Cemetery, and these have been renumbered to ensure database integrity. Also, some names were impossible to decipher or spelling may differ in some cases. When searching the database, try all possible combinations before contacting us for help.
Corrections to Cemetery Records
Burial and Cremation information is provided by funeral directors and/or families, and is not necessarily completely accurate. Quite often the records are inconsistent in detail, especially with names and nicknames, so official death records should be consulted for verification. If you have any corrections, or wish to add information to a record, please call the Council's Contact Centre on phone (04) 237 5089 or email enquiries@pcc.govt.nz.
Other Cemeteries in Porirua City
There are several other historic cemeteries in Porirua City. Porirua Library's Genealogy Resources has the following details of burials on microfiche:
Pauatahanui
- Battle Hill - 1846-1883
- Pauatahanui Public Burial Ground - 1850-1969
- St Albans Anglican Church - 1930-1979
- St Josephs Catholic Church - 1885-1978
Plimmerton
- Honoeke Maori - 1940-1979
- Maori - November 1918
Pukerua Bay
Porirua
- Porirua Cemetery 1895-1980
- Takapu Maori - 1858-1976
Organising a family-managed cremation or burial
In most cases, families hand control of funeral arrangements over to a funeral director. However if families want to manage the arrangements themselves, then a certain procedure must be followed, and the correct forms completed.
The Porirua City Council provides the following forms required when a cremation or burial is required.
Links to more information:
Guides
The Whitireia Community Law Centre Trust Inc has an excellent resource called "A Guide to Death, Funerals and Small Estates" which steps you through the process when dealing with a bereavement. This guide is in the process of being updated so please contact the Law Centre on (04) 237 6811 or email commlaw@wnc.quik.co.nz to obtain the latest version of this Guide.
Legislation
Porirua City Council links:
Other External links:
- Christchurch City Library - for links to many other New Zealand Cemetery Records and online databases.
- NZGenWeb - a private website which has a list of burials in other cemeteries around the Wellington region.
- Natural Burials - Makara Cemetery, Wellington.