Hunting Kiwis
Memorial to the soldiers and horses lost in the Great War
Now a public cemetery, Birch Hill Cemetery was once a private cemetery for the use of the family, friends and workers of Birch Hill Station, and remains a small cemetery tucked away in the hills off Birch Hill Road near Oxford.
Edward Bowler Millton, and his wife Maude (need Ford) had the current Birch Hill Station homestead built to a design by Samuel Hurst Seager, one of New Zealand’s leading designers of large houses, after the original house owned by his father, sea captain William Newton Millton, burnt down. Edward’s brother, J D Millton, also inherited land, on the Ashley Flats, and named the property ‘Rakahuri’.
In 1930, Edward Millton (now Lieutenant-Colonel), decided to honour the men and horses who had served in the Great War by commissioning and constructing a stone monument in the Birch Hill Cemetery. Many of the 8th Regiment‘s (New Zealand Mounted Rifles) horses came from Birch Hill.
Lieutenant-Colonel Millton and his wife had no children of their own. Their biggest contribution was the leaving of Birch Hill Station to the Sunlight League to be used as a home for children orphaned by World War Two. For many years the homestead was known as the Ford Millton Home, but it closed for good in 1985 and the house is now a private residence.
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High-resolution photographs of the grave are available, plus one or two of the cemetery/church if applicable. This includes a full transcription, particularly for those stones that are hard to read or eroded.
Please consider a small donation to keep the site and the work going
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BRYDON, Robert (d. 6th January, 2002).
CROSS, Marjorie Anne (d. 17th August, 2006). Born in York, England 22nd April, 1918. Wife of William Watson Cross.
ENGEL, Heinz Albert (d. 4th June, 1998). Born in Germany in 1932.
ENSOR, John Henry (d. 31st August, 1986). Age 65. Husband of Sylvie.
ENSOR, Roger Willett (1923 – 2000). Husband of Valerie Anne Wilson Ensor.
ENSOR, Valerie Anne Wilson (1922 – 1997). Wife of Roger Willett Ensor of Mandalea and Garrymere.
ERICKSON, Charles Oscar (d. 21st October, 1962). Headstone hard to read.
HAMILTON, Annette Dea Herbert (d. 28th September, 1992). Nee Brown. Wife of Henry Warburton Fitzgerald Hamilton.
HAMILTON, Henry Warburton Fitzgerald (d. 8th January, 1977). Born 16th April, 1900.
JAMES, Arthur Reginald (d. 11th December, 1956). Also Grace Lydia, his wife.
JAMES, Patricia Ellis (1917 – 2005). Daughter of Reg and Lydia.
JAMES, Richard Ellis (1915 – 2002). Cherished companion of Pearl.
KENYON, Elizabeth Noeline (d. 14th March, 2005). Wife of Frank Kenyon.
MILLTON, Edward Bowler (d. 11th March, 1942).
MILLTON, Mary Lilian (d. 8th March, 1963). Wife of Frederick John Millton.
MILLTON, Maude Eliza (d. 4th Feb, 1946). Age 78. Nee Ford. Wife of Edward Bowler Millton.
SMITH, C C (31st January, 1936 – 29th May, 2004).
THOMPSON, Keith Marshall (1945 – 2010). Husband of Linda.
TOMKIES, S A (d. 18th May, 1993). Captain 2nd NZEF, 19th Battalion.
WHITE, Pearl Mae (d. 10th August, 1988).
Hunting Kiwis 
The cemetery was officially opened on 31st March 1937 and the rules advertised then as well.
The Ford Millton home operated from 1942-1985. It was run by a matron and was for boys from homes where parents had poor parenting skills.
Bernard Kingsbury Archivist Cust Museum
Posted by Bernard Kingsbury | March 13, 2014, 7:20 amThank you Bernard 🙂 I will update the information and see what else I can find on the Ford Milton Home.
Posted by hleggatt | April 27, 2014, 5:02 amHey there have you found any more info on the old home? I was in there with my brother in the 70s.
Posted by Kerry | January 3, 2020, 5:01 amHi Anthony thanks for the reply, it is much appreciated. Any further information on this would be helpful. Do you know any others that went there? I remember That Metherall had a son that would come to mow the lawns. I remember there were a couple of girls in the home while I was there, sisters possibly so i think it wasn’t just a boys home.
Posted by Kerry | February 26, 2017, 11:41 amRobert Brydon our Dad and Mum ( Dorothy ) are both buried at the cemetary. Dad managed Okuku Hill station in Lees Valley for several years till about 1964 and the profit from that station helped with the running of the Ford Milton Memorial home. From Barbara Laird nee Brydon. Great for me to see the stone and plaque are still OK.
Posted by Barbara Laird | February 14, 2015, 7:03 amI have been trying to find out about the Ford Milton Memorial home as I was in it with my brother and some other children in the late 70s. I was trying to get in touch with others who were there at that time. The woman who ran the homestead was Mrs Metherall. We used to walk down to the ‘Garry River?”, it was a mysterious and nostalgic time for me and sometimes sad as my mother suffered from mental illness and we were in their for some time.
Posted by Kerry | November 27, 2015, 12:30 amI have been trying to find out about the Ford Milton Memorial home as I was in it with my brother and some other children in the late 70s. I was trying to get in touch with others who were there at that time. The woman who ran the homestead was Mrs Metherall. We used to walk down to the ‘Garry River?”, it was a mysterious and nostalgic time for me and sometimes sad as my mother suffered from mental illness and we were in there for some time.
Posted by Kerry | November 27, 2015, 12:30 amHi Kerry
My brother and I were there for a time. I remember Mrs Metherall.
I think we may have been ther before you though. Yes the trip to the rver with all the birds nesting? Church on Sundays, plenty of toast to eat, and tge dreaded punishments.
Good times and bad.
My name is Anthony, my brothers bame is Ramon
Posted by Tony Gibling | February 26, 2017, 6:16 amI remember her grrrrrrrrr
Posted by rachael widdowson | August 26, 2016, 10:34 pmHi Rachael were you in the home too? Been trying to get in touch with others who were there.
Posted by Kerry | January 3, 2020, 5:02 amHi Rachael were you in the home too? Been trying to get in touch with others who were there.
Posted by Kerry | August 27, 2016, 12:27 amHi Kerry
L
We went to Okuku school, which was one classroom for all grades. It had an old dray/wagon we could play on.
My email is gibling@xtra.co.nz if you want to carry on the conversation in private. Im finding some memories and emotions are surfacing.
Posted by Tony Gibling | February 26, 2017, 7:39 pmI travelled out to see the old homestead a few years ago and all the memories came back. I remember being dragged by the hair up the hallway because i got nugget on my shirt after polishing my shoes. Metherall was not nice at all.
Posted by Kerry | January 3, 2020, 4:54 am