Tokanui Hospital Cemetery Memorial

TOKANUI HOSPITAL MEMORIAL

14km south of Te Awamutu, just out of Kihikihi, is the empty buildings of the former Tokanui Psychiatric Hospital, among its many patients were men and women returning from the war with various afflictions including shellshock etc. A small unknown to many of us was the fact that there was a cemetery on the site with nearly 500 people buried there and only one memorial stating that and no names.

A local Hamilton man Maurie Zinsli, a descendant of one of the people, began a plan to do something about it. Mark Reinsfield from James R Hill Funeral Directors was kind enough to arrange the donation of a memorial for the project and Nathan came aboard as the Monumental Mason that got the memorial above ground. A lot of local companies in Te Awamutu donated time and machinery to the project, including the Te Awamutu RSA and there President Mr Terry Finday, in time a stone will be laid on the site to acknowledge them also.

Amazingly so far 469 people have been verified as buried in the Tokanui Cemetery and their names have been placed on the memorial already and I know there will be more.

You will see in the images the wall installed by Nathan from Taupo Monumental, designed by Mark Reinsfield and the support team at James R Hill Funerals in Hamilton.

A big thank you goes out also to Maurie Zinsli for his dedication in getting the project into the public arena

If you know of someone that is buried at Tokanui and not yet recognised please feel free to give Nathan a buzz and we will be able to get you in touch with the project manager