THE BRACKEN FUND

Evening Star, Issue 15538, 7 July 1914, Page 4

THE BRACKEN FUND

It was a local member of the Civil Service who succeeded in discovering the place where .the author of ‘Not Understood ’ lies buried. In a communication to Mr T. Lindsay Buick, of Wellington (from which we have been allowed to make a few extracts), ho wrote:

With regard to tho exact place of Bracken’s burial I had experienced considerable difficulty in its location. No one appeared to know. Some said in tho Northern Cemetery, while many said in the ‘Southern; but no one had seen his grave. One man whoi was at tho funeral had forgotten which cemetery he attended, out he thought it was in the Southern. However, when I

got a sight of the newspapers of tho period I found that ho was buTfcd in the Northern Cemetery. So one Sunday morning in June—it was a cold, windy day—l set out for the Northern Cemetery, and interrogated the sexton, who knew nothing about it. However, we sat down and waded through books under the heading of B, and passed over 500 names, and yd thin the last dozen found this entry: “ Thomas Bracken. No. 6,953.” Then, on referring to another part of the records we noted that a plot was owned by the executors of Thomas Bracken. “ Lot 17, block 92; buried 18/3/1898; 54 years,” etc. But examination of the record showed that this was an error, as all the other entries on the page were February, and the one immediately above was March, while the “ditto” hieroglyphics had wrongly been continued from March. This search took quite 30 minutes. The next job was to find the grave. Carefully taking his bearings, ifc was at last located by the sexton as the stony ground, on account of the big boulders lying underneath the surface. * Ifc is a deserted corner of the cemetery, where, I am led to understand, the poorer people are buried. Half the graves that are supposed to bo there are without railing, headstones, or even mounds. Bracken’s grave is absolutely unmarked, and is level with tho surrounding ground. There had recently been long rough grass growing over Jiis grave and the plots on either _ side, which had been mown down with a scythe. Immediately to the east of ifc is'n tombstone to one Mary Amy Davy; to the west of ifc one, to Annie La-mont. I give these details only because by this means can it be located by anyone who cannot obtain tho sexton’s services.

Tho site is a commanding! and noble one—fib for a poet—situated, as it is, on the high hillside; open, and with a commanding view of the City. Immediately below it is Lake Logan; then the harbor reclamation works; beyond, Dunedin Harbor; and in the furthest distance can be seen tTis white ocean rollers breaking on the beaches at St. Kilda and St. Clair. I found a fine enlarged portrait of the poet hanging on the wall of the Public Library'.

We have received the following subscriptions for putting tho poet’s grave in proper order and maintaining it; —-

‘ Evening Star ’ Company 8. 21 A. Moritzson 21 Right Rev. Bishop Vcrdon 21 Father Coffey 21 A. and T. Burt . 101 F. D. Bamfiekl 21 R. Brown 10 W. F. Edmond ... ~~ 21 W. H. Thurlow 2* A. Lee Smith, sen. ... ... ... ... 21 J. and T. R. Christie ... 10. Dr Stenhouse ... — 10 W. B. M. Fea 21 W. F. Emory and 15 Other Admirers of the Poet ... 201 John MacGregor Employees ‘ Daily Times ’ 10. 62 ‘ Otago Daily Times ’ Company 42