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Graveyard in the Bush


Graveyard in the Bush
Photo Information
Copyright: Kathleen Shepherd (kathleen) Silver Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Silver Note Writer [C: 17 W: 12 N: 12] (150)
Genre: Places
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2007-08-25
Categories: Nature
Camera: Canon EOS 350D, Canon EF 17-40mm f4 L USM
Exposure: f/18.0, 3 seconds
Details: Tripod: Yes
More Photo Info: [view]
Photo Version: Original Version
Date Submitted: 2007-09-02 21:42
Viewed: 631
Points: 10
[Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note
Graveyard in the Bush
Nature reclaims what was once man made from nature it’s-self. Wooden Head Memorial.

Arawata Cemetery, Haast. Situated between Neils Beach and Jackson Bay, this cemetery is the burial site for some of the first European settlers to come to Jackson Bay as part of the unsuccessful settlement programme in 1875. The forest has reclaimed most graves with only some sites still discernible. The story of an unsuccessful settlement at Jackson Bay is one of hardship, premature death and shattered dreams.
A poem was written of this graveyard by Dinny (Denis) Nolan of his memories as a boy attending the burial services and then coming back years later to the graveyard.

A piece from the poem:
Many more were buried there in those pioneering days,
I recall the lovely flowers that flourished near the graves.
All enclosed with wooden railings as neat as it could be,
Seemed like a little paradise in its plain simplicity.
I returned there long years after, I was then an aged man,
The place was quite deserted, all settlement was gone.
There in my seclusion old memories on me rushed,
And my first impulse it was to seek that graveyard in the bush.

I feel that I should tell you what I gazed upon,
The tangled scrub it towered above, and the clearing all was gone.
And those crude wooden crosses which as a child I’d seen,
Were buried neath that tangled mass, and oblivion reigned supreme.
I tried to force an entrance to locate the place,
But blackberry it barred the way, and tore my hands and face.
I sat there sad and lonely, and I could not help reflect,
Is this remembrance after life, is this what we might expect.
When our span of life has ended, our voice forever hushed,
Will we lapse into oblivion in some graveyard in the bush?


If you are interested in reading all the poem and view more photos, please go to my website, Places of Interest

It’s sad to see these graves now long past and forgotten and you can’t help but think of those people now doing research/genealogy on their ancestors that came to New Zealand that got shipped to Jackson’s Bay, that may be the last they can find of them, one of their family could be in this graveyard.
Viking, eosnut, LuDivine, JohnTulip has marked this note useful
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ThreadThread Starter Messages Updated
To eosnut: Digital since 2005kathleen 1 09-06 06:00
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Critiques [Translate]

Yes this is a fact of life Kathleen
Both nature and person under the ground hare bitten by the time
that makes all things fade away
Very very good dear Kathleen!

Rob

Hi Kathleen,
Beautiful image of the history on the Coast. Amazing how long the wood has lasted.
We really don't know we're alive, when you realise the hardships those people endured in those days.
It looks like it was'nt an easy shot to capture.
TFS,
Pete.
PS, how long have been digital?

Hi Kathleen,
beautiful picture, great sharpness, and very interesting story to it!. Thank you.
LuDivine

  • Great 
  • Janice Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 3266 W: 267 N: 7733] (32978)
  • [2007-09-04 1:59]

Hi Kathleen, it is quite sad reading the old gravestones... What a hard life they had back then...
Good find, and well captured,
Janice

Hello Kathleen.
A good observation!
I agree with Viking .. its part of the big circle called:
Life and death!
TFS
JohnT

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