Anniversary Day Guided Tour of The Bolton Street Cemetery

Wellington’s Anniversary Day holiday provides the perfect opportunity to join a guided tour of the Bolton Street Cemetery, which is New Zealand’s oldest cemetery. Hear stories about a few of the people buried here since 1840, not long after the arrival of the first of the NZ Company ships – the “Aurora” – on 22 January 1840.

This tour features the memorials and graves of many of our earliest settlers, who between them set up and rapidly developed our city, and indeed our nation. Included are those whose names may be well known to us, and some whom we know very little about.

It includes an unusual death that occurred on Anniversary Day 1852, of a young man who went for a swim in Wellington Harbour to cool down after he had spent the afternoon playing in a band in a Te Aro concert.

These tours start and finish at the Bolton Street Cemetery Museum, lower Bolton Street.
Duration: 80-90 minutes.

Children aged 12 and under are free; well-behaved dogs, on leads, are welcome.
These tours include steps and walking on uneven surfaces and are not suitable for people with limited mobility.

Enquiries: friendsbolton@gmail.com