Seacliff Asylum and Cherry Farm Asylum Unmarked Graves project

The Dunedin City Council is researching unmarked graves of people who died while in institutional care in the Dunedin area.

To help honour those who died in care institutions, we are seeking information from members of the public and interested parties.

This information will help us identify potential burial locations of former patients at the Seacliff and Cherry Farm, among other institutions.

Dunedin was once home to a number of mental health institutions, including Seacliff Lunatic Asylum, the Dunedin Lunatic Asylum, Cherry Farm and Mt View Asylum, but we only have records of 155 unmarked plots at Blueskin Cemetery and we lack further details of the people buried there.

If you think you have information that might help us in our research of unmarked graves, please fill out the Unmarked graves information form.

Next steps

Following public feedback, we aim to construct a verified list of deaths and burial locations as well as physically identify potential burial locations of former patients at the Seacliff and Cherry Farm, among other institutions.

We will also engage with mana whenua and whānau on how to best acknowledge those who have passed on. This will determine what is appropriate in regards memorialising and acknowledging those buried in unmarked graves.