18 Nov 2015

The history of New Zealand's oldest cemeteries

From Nine To Noon, 11:25 am on 18 November 2015

Old cemeteries feature in the smallest of communities; quiet places where history is revisited - and what is gone, imagined.

Stephen Deed is an historian and librarian who in his book Unearthly Landscapes explores the heritage of cemeteries in New Zealand - from some of the grandest in Otago with tombs for early European settlers - to tiny rural graveyards and Maori urupa and wahi tapu.

The book also details the intersection of Maori and European culture and how each influenced the other in burial practices.

Stephen Deed talks to Kathryn Ryan.