Somebody's Darling Lies Here Buried — Rigney, New Zealand
Posted by: Groundspeak Regular Member Dunbar Loop
S 45° 43.511 E 169° 28.810
59G E 381734 N 4935362
In February 1865 a body was found in the Clutha River, a short distance from here, and was buried under a headstone reading "Somebody's Darling Lies Here Buried". A later inquest linked the corpse to one Charles Alms but the body was not identified.
Waymark Code: WM7TH7
Location: South Island, New Zealand
Date Posted: 12/01/2009
Published By:Groundspeak Charter Member BruceS
Views: 6

The history sign reads:

The Lonely Graves

In 1863 this quiet rural area supported a goldfield called Horseshoe Bend and approximately 200 miners and storekeepers. By 1865 there were only 72 people left, support by 6 hotels.

According to popular legend, in 1865 William Rigney found the body of a young man washed up on a beach at Horseshoe Bend. After the inquest into the death of the unknown man, Rigney arranged for his burial and later marked the grave with a wooden headboard stating “Somebody’s Darling Lies Buried Here.”

Unfortunately this is just a story. The body was found in February 1865 but not by Rigney. An inquest confirmed that is was probably the body of Charles Alms, a butcher from the Nevis Valley, who drowned on the 25 January at Clyde, while herding cattle across the Clutha River. There is no record of who buried the body. Some time later Rigney and another miner put a manuka fence around the grave, and Rigney provided the wooden headboard.

The story was first published in the Tuapeka Times in 1901, and Rigney wrote a letter to the editor explaining that he had neither found nor buried the body. Nevertheless, when Rigney died in 1912 he was buried beside “Somebody’s Darling,” and the words “Here lies the body of William Rigney, the man who buried Somebody’s Darling,” were placed on his gravestone.

The story was stuck — the truth shouldn’t get in the way of a good story!

Department of Conservation

Burial Location: Lonely Graves Historical Reserve

Available Times for Viewing: No restrictions

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AdventureTharon visited Somebody's Darling Lies Here Buried — Rigney, New Zealand 06/24/2012 AdventureTharon visited it