Off Ruru Road
Opening times:
• Summer - 7.30am–8.30pm
• Winter - 7.30am–4.00pm
Hours for Interments:
• Monday – Friday 9.00am – 4.00 pm
• Saturday 9.00 am – 1.00 pm
Ruru Lawn Cemetery opened in 1941, covers 15.1427 hectares and has granite and bronze plaques set at ground level. It has a large Returned Services Association section and separate areas are set aside for different denominations. A new ashes area has been developed adjacent to block 4 at the southern end of the cemetery.
There is an ongoing programme to construct kerb around the plaque’s. This will alleviate the subsidence of plaque and ground maintenance issues.
The victims of the infamous 1947 Ballantyne’s fire are buried here and there is a memorial to them on site.
Ballantyne’s Fire Memorial
Ballantyne’s department store in Colombo Street was the scene of one of New Zealand's most disastrous fires late in the afternoon of 18 November 1947. A total of 41 people died and damage was put at half a million pounds. The fire was first discovered in the basement of the wooden building but the alarm was not given immediately. The actual time the alarm was received by the fire brigade was 3.46pm. Onlookers say that within 15 minutes of their first noticing the black smoke billowing from the building, it was past saving. Of three shop girls who jumped after being trapped on upper storeys of the three-storey building, one died and two were seriously injured.
A Royal Commission of Inquiry - which later sat for 65 days and heard 186 witnesses - criticised the firefighters for failure to take effective action in the first 10 minutes after their arrival because they did not recognise the potential danger.
The company's store, established in 1864, was one of the best known in New Zealand. The premises covered about an acre of ground. All those who died were members of the staff of about 300.
Map of the Ruru Lawn Cemetery [PDF 2.68MB]
