John and Pip Gray

The gardens at Purewa Cemetery and Crematorium are looking blooming beautiful thanks to the specialist skills of contract gardening duo John and Pip Gray. John is a qualified landscape designer and stonemason with more than 35 years’ experienc

From Rags to Riches

A fascinating ‘rags to riches’ story is the life of Henry Edward Partridge, who joined the Navy in England aged 13 with minimal education to become the wealthy owner of a large collection of Gottfried Lindauer paintings of Maori. Partridge,

Ship Sinking

Three members of the Bloomfield family are buried next to each other in Purewa Cemetery after the tragic sinking of the ‘Empress of Ireland’ in Canada in 1914. Robert William Read Bloomfield aged 52, his wife Isabella Louise aged 46 and thei

Many City Pioneers Rest at Purewa

Purewa Cemetery is the final resting place for more than 55,000 men, women and children. Among them are some of the early pioneers of Auckland and the nation.   One of the many remarkable trailblazers is Arthur Guyon Purchas – doctor, surg