It was the strangest after-hours call Chris Mallows, of Auckland Council's Heritage Unit, has received in his career.
Normally, the call centre will get in touch with the team leader, Cultural Heritage, if someone has found a bone or buried object they can’t identify in their garden – but this was something very different.
Contractors cracking concrete at a Mt Albert address had discovered a child’s headstone.
It read: “In memory of Florence, infant daughter of James Owen, died 25th April 1875, aged 1 year. Suffer little children to come unto me.”
The discovery prompted so many questions. Who was Florence Owen and how did her headstone end up at the property? No one of the same surname had owned the house according to records.
The story was picked up by the New Zealand Herald and it was reported overseas by the Daily Mail Online.
Thanks to the detective work done by the Heritage Unit, the last resting place of Florence and her father has been found at the George Maxwell Memorial Cemetery in Avondale. It is still unclear as to why the stone was located 7 km away.
But without any living descendants found to convey their wishes, it was up to staff to engage a conservator to restore the headstone and decide the best way to respectfully honour the past in the present.
