Notices about the first cremation in New Zealand appeared in several newspapers on 2 November 1909. John Jack was cremated the next day at the Karori crematorium, which had just been opened. Cremation was a new way of disposing of the dead, but Mr Jack used it to perpetuate the traditional practice of burying members of the same family together. He specified in his will that he wanted his ashes interred in the family vault (or, as it is known there, a lair) in Dundee, Scotland.
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National Library of New Zealand, Papers Past
Reference:
Colonist, 2 November, 1909, p.4
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