Akaroa Historical Overview - Christchurch City Council

Early reserves and commons
The location of the first common was a consequence of negotiations between the English
and French. In determining the location for the French settlement it was decided that a
space, common to all, was to be left between the French settlement and Mr William
Green's House. (Green, as already mentioned, was an early English settler who had been
occupying land at Takapuneke (Red House Bay) since 1839.) This common was bounded
on the west by a creek of fresh water (now known as Aylmers Stream) which was noted
to supply all the ships in the bay and never ran dry.
The Cimetière Catholiques, or French Cemetery as it came to be known, was part of land
allocated to the Catholic Mission in 1840. Situated on the elevated prospect of L' Aube
Hill, it was located in close association with the priest's house and the first Catholic
Chapel (Chapel of St James and St Philip) as shown in a sketch plan by Father Seon dated
1850 (refer figure 4.10). It is unclear when the cemetery was set-out or planted but by
August of 1843 it was described as having been 'constructed' by Belligny and the first
burial is understood to have taken place in May 1842. Consecrated by Bishop Pompallier
in the first years of the settlement, it can be seen as a modified flat terrace behind the
first Catholic Church in an 1848 sketch of the town. In Seon's diagrammatic sketch it is
shown as an enclosed area of ground which is divided into two distinct sections, one
containing 14 graves.
Early descriptions of the cemetery landscape indicate that it was originally hedged with
gorse and ornamented with willows, roses (Cloth of Gold, Solfaterre and Pink Briar) and
Ranunculus ficaria (Lesser celandine). Native vegetation, including totara, was retained
and wooden crosses, artistic chain fences, short unpretending epitaphs and simply
formed wooden headboards all contributed to its distinctive vernacular character 55 (refer
figure 4.9).
Figure 4.9. The French cemetery was intensively planted and graves were simply ornamented.
Ref: 262-1
55 Otago Witness, 5 February , 1870, p. 6
AKAROA HERITAGE OVERVIEW : SECTION 4 THE FRENCH VILLAGE 1840 TO 1850 PAGE 27