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Story: French

The cemetery

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The cemetery

The French cemetery at Akaroa was the first burial ground consecrated in the province of Canterbury, sanctified by the Catholic Bishop Pompallier in 1847. One historian described those who are buried there as ‘the children of an unrealised dream’.

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Akaroa Museum

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How to cite this page

Tessa Copland, French – French settlements, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/2271/the-cemetery (accessed 24 June 2026).

Story by Tessa Copland, published 4 March 2009, updated 1 August 2024.