Unique forensic study of early Otago farmers proposed

Associate Professor Hallie Buckley

University of Otago researchers are hoping to shed new light on the quality of life and identity of Otago's early European settlers and farmers through a proposed study that would involve excavating and analysing skeletons from unmarked graves in Tokoiti, Milton.

The proposed project, which would be undertaken in partnership with a local community group called Tokomairiro Project 60 (TP60), would be the first time that such research has been attempted on an early European population in New Zealand.

The TP60 group has located records of 68 burials in the St John's Church of England Cemetery on the back road at Tokoiti.

The first known burial was in 1860 and the last in 1926. The 67 are mostly first-generation settlers and their families from the UK who moved to the area after 1850.

State-of-the-art archaeological and forensic analysis of the cemetery and those buried within it would be undertaken by researchers, led by Associate Professor Hallie Buckley of the Department of Anatomy and Dr Peter Petchey of the Department of Anthropology and Archaeology.

Detailed mapping and geophysical surveying of the cemetery would initially be carried out, followed by careful archaeological excavation of selected areas. The researchers hope to recover 20-30 individuals, and would initially concentrate on parts of the old cemetery that are outside the presently-fenced area.

After DNA, bone and tooth analysis — including isotopic investigations — had been completed, the remains would be re-interred in their original plots and the research team and TP60 would co-operate in restoring the lawn cemetery and marking of any then known burial sites.

Identified living descendants of the 67 burials would be asked to have their DNA profiled to help determine which remains are those of their ancestors. Associate Professor Buckley's departmental colleague Professor Lisa Matisoo-Smith would conduct these DNA analyses on the skeletons and their living descendants.

“As well as helping families to identify the graves of their ancestors, this research would also provide a unique opportunity to trace the diet and health effects of the European colonisation process —from leaving their homeland via extended sea voyages and arrival to unbroken farmland,” Associate Professor Buckley says.

The researchers would also be able to compare the detailed life histories the TP60 members have compiled for the 67 people with the new forensic evidence.

“For example, differences in strontium isotope ratios can pinpoint where in Britain a person grew up or moved to,” she says.

The project has been endorsed by the Rt Reverend Dr Kelvin Wright, Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Dunedin and the TP60 research team. A public meeting will be held at the Milton Coronation Hall at 7.00pm on Tuesday 14 June to present the project to interested people in Milton and the wider community.

A list of the names of the 67 people identified through historical records as having been buried at the cemetery appears below.

For more information, contact:

Associate Professor Hallie Buckley
Department of Anatomy
University of Otago
Tel 03 479 5775
Email hallie.buckley@anatomy.otago.ac.nz

The names of 67 people known to have been buried at the cemetery:

1. Albert, Olivia 1878
2. Barrett, Jasper 1903
3. Barrett, Elizabeth, 1892
4. Bedson, Leonard 1875
5. Bennetto, Jane 1881
6. Bugden, Emily 1893
7. Bugden, Edward 1875
8. Butler, Edwin 1875
9. Caudle, Stephen 1887
10. Caudle, Stephen jnr 1865
11. Caudle, Catherine 1873
12. Caudle, Lucy 1873
13. Clegg, Joseph 1877
14. Clegg, Mary 1880
15. Clegg, Frederick 1877
16. Clegg, Frederick #2 1879
17. Clegg, John 1876
18. Farrell, Eleanor 1877
19. Farrell, Peter 1887
20. Farrell, Henry 1890
21. Finch, Elizabeth 1875
22. Finch, John 1897
23. Finch, William 1875
24. Finch, Mary 1875
25. Flahive, Mary Ann 1892
26. Fyfe, James Watson 1899
27. Fynes-Clinton Fanny 1888
28. Higgins, Joseph 1877
29. Jordan, Nita 1892
30. Miller, Robert 1864
31. Moore, Anna Bella 1893
32. Moore, Emma 1916
33. Moore, John 1926
34. Ottery, George 1898
35. Ottery, George 1898
36. Parker, Catherine 1876
37. Parker, Mary Buchanan 1891
38. Parker, Thomas 1870?
39. Parker, Mary Smith 1880
40. Parker, Joseph 1919
41. Pilkington, Richard 1877
42. Powley, John 1891
43. Powley, Jane 1864
44. Powley, Ann 1859
45. Powley, Nanny Bradberry 1862
46. Powley, Hanorah 1873
47. Powley, George 1877
48. Powley, Henry, 1885
49. Ronaldson, Grace 1877
50. Seed, John 1878
51. Seed, Ann 1893
52. Shaw, Henry 1881
53. Shaw, Sarah 1893
54. Shaw, Elizabeth Bell 1909
55. Snow, Levi 1875
56. Squires, Westbrooke 1862
57. Taylor, Annie 1880
58. Taylor, Walter 1881
59. Thomson, Robert 1877
60. Toogood, William 1873
61. Weber, Flora 1874
62. Weber, Bertha 1873
63. Weber, Dr 1874
64. Welham, Jane 1906
65. Welham, George 1879
66. Welham, William 1889
67. Woodhead, Elizabeth 1860

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