Omaka Cemetery

{{Short description|Historic cemetery in Blenheim, New Zealand}}

{{Use New Zealand English|date=April 2024}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2021}}

{{Infobox cemetery

| name = Omaka Cemetery

| established =

| country = New Zealand

| location = Blenheim

| coordinates = {{coord|41|32|16|S|173|56|24|E|type:landmark_region:NZ|display=inline,title}}

| latitude =

| longitude =

| type =

| owner = Marlborough District Council

| size =

| graves = 10,000 +

| website = {{URL|https://www.marlborough.govt.nz/services/cemeteries/omaka-cemetery}}

| footnotes = [https://www.marlborough.govt.nz/services/cemeteries/cemetery-records-search]

| findagraveid= 2179169

}}

Omaka Cemetery (also known as Blenheim Omaka Public Cemetery) is a historic cemetery in Blenheim, New Zealand founded in the 1850s.[https://www.marlborough.govt.nz/services/cemeteries/cemetery-records-search Cemetery Records Search – Marlborough District Council] It consists of over 10,000 burials and is the largest cemetery in Marlborough due to its proximity to the region's capitol. The cemetery closed for burials during the later half of the 1970s but was reopened in 2011.[https://gazette.govt.nz/notice/id/2011-go5666 Reopening of Omaka Cemetery, Marlborough, Order – 2011-go5666 – New Zealand Gazette]{{cite book|author=New Zealand. Census and Statistics Department|title=The Municipal Handbook of New Zealand|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kNs7AQAAMAAJ|year=1918|publisher=J. Mackay, Government Printer.}} The cemetery consists of three separate lawns numbered one to three with lawns one and two being established in the mid-nineteenth century. Lawn three was established during World War I and was used as a cemetery for returned serviceman but over time became the main cemetery for the Marlborough region. Fairhall Cemetery is now Marlborough's foremost cemetery.