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Stanley Graham grave
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DescriptionSo, I have just spent a few days down at the West coast .... 'made my second trip to Kowhitirangi, I picked up a stone where Stanley Graham's house once stood and placed in with flowers on his grave in Hotikita cemetery.Map[1] ContributorKaye Millar
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Location (city or town)KowhitirangiEventStanley Graham grave
From Facebook
Date Created20th March 2021CommentsTrish Barry Andrews
Just a few stones down from my parents
Thelma Coutts
That was very nice of you.
Nicky Ramsay
I read the book.
Aroha Meihana
Stanley graham? Why do I know this name. Is this the guy that did the killings years ago?
Hemi Mason
Aroha Meihana yes
Sarah Samson
Aroha Meihana yep
Ann Clark
Why he kill people
Jamie Staton
Ann Clark paranoid that someone was poisoning his cows
Wendy Oats
Financial stress n probably mental health issues.
Mike Wall
I spoke with his niebour years ago my father Jimmy Wall new them ,poor Stan was lead my his wife how said "shot him stan" the rest is history.
Cathy Howat
Mike Wall My Dad, Jim Howat from Cobden also knew him and said he was a crazy bugger. My best friends late dad Laurie Walsh was droving on the coast then. He said that the musterers all avoided his land.
Garry Cooke
A great read, today he might have had help, but back then, and the coast being the coast, he lost the plot and knocked off 7 people.
Ann Clark
so why was it nice for someone to leave a rock from his house on his grave,is he not still a killer for what ever reason
Diane Chesmar
Ann Clark obviously some people have taken the time to research the full story
Brian McIntyre
Born and bred on the Coast and yet at 79 years of age I have never been to see the actual memorial
Kaye Millar
Brian McIntyre Stanley lies very close to the magnificent RSA section. Ted Best, also lies nearby and the Growcotts also.
May be an image of monument and outdoors
Kaye Millar
May be an image of monument, outdoors and text that says 'EDWARD M. BEST ACED 40 YEARS. Beloved. AND HIS LOVED WIFE BESSIE ACED 82 YEARS'
Mike Wall
I'll try that again.
DI spoke with his neighbour yeasts ago. My father Jimmy Wall took me to meet them. Poor Stan was leed by his wife who was heard yelling to him shot him stan, everyone said he was a really nice bloke
Elizabeth Betty Woods
Not too many years ago I met a man whose father was the officer who shot Stanley: (Constable James D'Arcy Quirke). He said his father was young and it deeply affected him. There are no winners here. And many are correct, the situation would be very dif… See More
Lance Nilsson
My Uncle George was working for the undertakers in Hokitika at the time and helped bury Stan, along with the local Policemen that he killed. Sad story.
Bevan Pringle
Stanley Graham will never be forgotten they drove him to what he did there should of left him alone RIP Stan
Kenneth Hume
Is there any movie of Stanley Graham wat anyone's knows of
· Reply · 2h
Annemarie Harris
It is called 'bad blood'.
Mike Scholefield
Kenneth Hume it’s called Bad Blood starring Jack Thompson
Raelene Beth Wendi Wilson
awesome, such a sad story
Kylie Smiley Best
This dude shot and killed my Grandfathers cousin Constable Ted Best.
Kay Bruce
Kylie Smiley Best Thank for mentioning him. I thought no one remembered the victems.
Kaye Millar
Kay Bruce I do.....I took a moment with Ted Best as well.
May be an image of monument, outdoors and text that says 'EDWARD M. BEST ACED 40 YEARS. Beloved. AND HIS LOVED WIFE BESSIE ACED 82 YEARS'
Brian McIntyre
Well done Kaye Millar
Raeone Wallace
Brian McIntyre were you from Kaniere there was McIntyre's that lived just down the road from us
Glenda OBrien
The book is a fascinating, revealing history of how everything unfolded
Glenda OBrien
And yes, Stanley was mentally unwell, not helped at all by his stupid wife
Arlene Hutcheon
Glenda OBrien yep, that's what my Dad told me. My Dad was a little boy when it all happened. My great uncle was in the Military Police that shot him. His wife egged him on, a sad situation, really.
Kaye Millar
Glenda OBrien I have to agree with you 100% there.
Cathy Howat
Why would you bother? He was a mass murderer. My Dad, Jim Howat, and his cousin Cecil were part of the manhunt. Cecil and some other men were staking out his house from inside, when Graham returned and opened fire on them.
Philip Humphreys
Have you not of heard of being pushed to the limits and having mental health issues in fact I take offence to that comment they wanted wat belonged to him and he was,not prepared to hand it over simple
Sandra Arnott
True sooo true!
John Paget
I have visited this grave when visiting my in laws graves at Hokitika Cematary
Mal Russell
Should never forget where we come from
Reefer Finch
A man who got pushed past the limits of self-control
Shona Mcclelland
Is he in the Hokitika cemetery
Jill Margaret
I have this book .it is full of photographs of the event
N
Kaye Millar
That was very nice off you to put the flower on stanley grave
Anthea Keenan
With respect to the people of Kowhitrangi Valley 1941, during war time, all those involved - the victims, families = its not a social media story for those who had no knowledge of the happenings to comment sorry.
Cheryl Hedley
My father in law Bill Hedley was one of the detectives working on that case
Cathy Howat
Cheryl Hedley Dad and his mates helped to search for him
Bevan Pringle
Every time I go and have a look at Stan’s grave there is all ways flowers on it from someone
Bevan Pringle
Some one has cleared his head stone up it was covered in moss
Bevan Pringle
I see some one has just repaint Stan’s head stone it was covered in moss and has more flowers on it
Jean Wilson
Stan had children maybe they are keeping the grave nice ?
Helen Burns
Always visit Stans grave when over Hokitika
Des O'Connell
In 1968 a few guys from Runanga went down and cleared the weeds and painted it a few days later it was in the paper it said maybe family had done it
Crow Bay
Des O'Connell Yep we did Des. As teenagers getting hounded a lot we were a bit anti police lol
Sceary Pahl
May be an image of 1 person, standing and outdoors
Ian Mehrtens
From what I have heard Stanly was a well liked man ,driven to madnes ,Anthia Keenans comment is well said, so if some 1 wants to put a stone and flower on a grave good on them,let by gons be by gons and don't judge a book by it's cover .
Cathy Howat
Ian Mehrtens No, he wasn't! He was always regarded with caution. My father knew him as well as anyone could. Dad beat him at the Greymouth Gun Club shooting match in 36 and 38. He was NOT HAPPY at losing! Dad and his mates were careful not to hunt near his land. My best friends late dad Laurie Walsh was a musterer working on the Coast at the time. They avoided him like the plague. The Maori musterers in the gang, reckoned he was possessed by an evil spirit.
Ian Mehrtens
Well Cathy if you don't like my comment, that's up to you, I'm only going from people the I have talked to, Any way it should be all water under the bridge why sier up the past.
Mark Boon
Janine Burton
Mark Robertson
Sounds very similar to the Kelly family and the familys of the police that were killed hunting Ned Kelly and his mates and brother, People never forget even after 2,3 or 4 generations, Glenrowan and surrounding areas in Victoria are similar to the Coast as in country areas where members of the familys are still there living in the same area often still on the same land, To many these are stories of people but to the familys involved it is very painful and knowing the suffering their elders endured, One must also remember Stan Grahams children and grandchildren are also victims of that terrible event,
Arthur Dehn
I remember everything about that episode during the war, My brother acted in the movie, such a sad event!
Nina Townsend
All these years later & mental health is no further advanced
Robert Wilson
a great old chap living in the single mens huts at the ruatapu mill in the 60s,told me when you toss a coin and it lands on the ground, like a lot of things in life ,you can only see one side theres allways two, i have found this often so true,,\Dianne Smith
From what my parents told me & they were there on the farm, it is better left alone instead of coming up all the time.
Geoffrey Collis
When a person transitions from depression to psychosis no rational thoughts go on and your beliefs become real and without help, things go very very wrong especially if people close to you convince you that you are right
Arthur Dehn
At our school in Whataroa we were all talking about it , one or two in my class knew of the young Graham boy s
· Reply · 23h
Cathy Howat
Arthur Dehn What happened to the kids?
· Reply · 23h
Kaye Millar
Cathy Howat They had to be given new identities owing to the bullying they received at school in Christchurch. Even so, through no fault of their own, they would have had to live with the stigma of their father's mental illness and his fatal actions.
· Reply · 20h
Arthur Dehn
Kaye Millar I re the kids boasting about their father hiding out in the dugout
· Reply · 3h
Write a reply…
Anna Osborne
Just tried looking up the movie and doco on him. I am intrigued with reading all of the above. I am unable to find it on You Tube or Netflix. I put in the title, 'Bad Blood.' Can anyone tell me where I can view it pls?
· Reply · 21h
Laura Mills Detlaff
Admin
Not sure but the book it's based on is in the Greymouth library, it's a great read - Bad Blood by H A Willis
· Reply · 20h
Anna Osborne
Laura Mills Detlaff thanks
· Reply · 18h
Marie Summers
Anna Osborne its on amazon
· Reply · 18h
Warren Hogg
Anna Osborne we have the DVD at the bach on the coast. You are welcome to borrow it. Great movie with one of my high school teachers acting in it too.
· Reply · 18h
Anna Osborne
Warren Hogg yes pls, I'd love to borrow it
Anna Osborne
Marie Summers thanks
Warren Hogg
No problems. We are over that way Easter weekend so will catch up then if u are around or will bring it back to chch and post it to you.
Anna Osborne
Warren Hogg pls leave in letter box if you want. I really want to see it
Anthony John Travis
He pulled the trigger, leave sleeping dogs to lie
Rose Nolan
I think you will find circumstances so tragic surrounding this event families in the area did not engage in conversation that related to the time. What a terrible tragedy. Stanley did have family
Gina Schroder
https://www.nzonscreen.com/title/bad-blood-1982 Excerpts 5 mins
Jude Wastney
What is really sad is the fact that that Stanley was mentally ill and Hokitika had one of the best Mental hospitals in the country. Unfortunately in those days there was fear and shame to either to be admitted or have family admitted to any institution like Seaview. If you had epilepsy, Parkinsons or any other illness like this you were put in there unlike these days. As the Coast is full of small towns and everybody knows somebody who knows somebody else Seaview was not on the priority list even if you were mentally ill. I would hope that these days people are more comfortable asking for help when experiencing an illness that is not visible. A sad day for the families involved as well as the people of the Coast.
Just a few stones down from my parents
Thelma Coutts
That was very nice of you.
Nicky Ramsay
I read the book.
Aroha Meihana
Stanley graham? Why do I know this name. Is this the guy that did the killings years ago?
Hemi Mason
Aroha Meihana yes
Sarah Samson
Aroha Meihana yep
Ann Clark
Why he kill people
Jamie Staton
Ann Clark paranoid that someone was poisoning his cows
Wendy Oats
Financial stress n probably mental health issues.
Mike Wall
I spoke with his niebour years ago my father Jimmy Wall new them ,poor Stan was lead my his wife how said "shot him stan" the rest is history.
Cathy Howat
Mike Wall My Dad, Jim Howat from Cobden also knew him and said he was a crazy bugger. My best friends late dad Laurie Walsh was droving on the coast then. He said that the musterers all avoided his land.
Garry Cooke
A great read, today he might have had help, but back then, and the coast being the coast, he lost the plot and knocked off 7 people.
Ann Clark
so why was it nice for someone to leave a rock from his house on his grave,is he not still a killer for what ever reason
Diane Chesmar
Ann Clark obviously some people have taken the time to research the full story
Brian McIntyre
Born and bred on the Coast and yet at 79 years of age I have never been to see the actual memorial
Kaye Millar
Brian McIntyre Stanley lies very close to the magnificent RSA section. Ted Best, also lies nearby and the Growcotts also.
May be an image of monument and outdoors
Kaye Millar
May be an image of monument, outdoors and text that says 'EDWARD M. BEST ACED 40 YEARS. Beloved. AND HIS LOVED WIFE BESSIE ACED 82 YEARS'
Mike Wall
I'll try that again.
DI spoke with his neighbour yeasts ago. My father Jimmy Wall took me to meet them. Poor Stan was leed by his wife who was heard yelling to him shot him stan, everyone said he was a really nice bloke
Elizabeth Betty Woods
Not too many years ago I met a man whose father was the officer who shot Stanley: (Constable James D'Arcy Quirke). He said his father was young and it deeply affected him. There are no winners here. And many are correct, the situation would be very dif… See More
Lance Nilsson
My Uncle George was working for the undertakers in Hokitika at the time and helped bury Stan, along with the local Policemen that he killed. Sad story.
Bevan Pringle
Stanley Graham will never be forgotten they drove him to what he did there should of left him alone RIP Stan
Kenneth Hume
Is there any movie of Stanley Graham wat anyone's knows of
· Reply · 2h
Annemarie Harris
It is called 'bad blood'.
Mike Scholefield
Kenneth Hume it’s called Bad Blood starring Jack Thompson
Raelene Beth Wendi Wilson
awesome, such a sad story
Kylie Smiley Best
This dude shot and killed my Grandfathers cousin Constable Ted Best.
Kay Bruce
Kylie Smiley Best Thank for mentioning him. I thought no one remembered the victems.
Kaye Millar
Kay Bruce I do.....I took a moment with Ted Best as well.
May be an image of monument, outdoors and text that says 'EDWARD M. BEST ACED 40 YEARS. Beloved. AND HIS LOVED WIFE BESSIE ACED 82 YEARS'
Brian McIntyre
Well done Kaye Millar
Raeone Wallace
Brian McIntyre were you from Kaniere there was McIntyre's that lived just down the road from us
Glenda OBrien
The book is a fascinating, revealing history of how everything unfolded
Glenda OBrien
And yes, Stanley was mentally unwell, not helped at all by his stupid wife
Arlene Hutcheon
Glenda OBrien yep, that's what my Dad told me. My Dad was a little boy when it all happened. My great uncle was in the Military Police that shot him. His wife egged him on, a sad situation, really.
Kaye Millar
Glenda OBrien I have to agree with you 100% there.
Cathy Howat
Why would you bother? He was a mass murderer. My Dad, Jim Howat, and his cousin Cecil were part of the manhunt. Cecil and some other men were staking out his house from inside, when Graham returned and opened fire on them.
Philip Humphreys
Have you not of heard of being pushed to the limits and having mental health issues in fact I take offence to that comment they wanted wat belonged to him and he was,not prepared to hand it over simple
Sandra Arnott
True sooo true!
John Paget
I have visited this grave when visiting my in laws graves at Hokitika Cematary
Mal Russell
Should never forget where we come from
Reefer Finch
A man who got pushed past the limits of self-control
Shona Mcclelland
Is he in the Hokitika cemetery
Jill Margaret
I have this book .it is full of photographs of the event
N
Kaye Millar
That was very nice off you to put the flower on stanley grave
Anthea Keenan
With respect to the people of Kowhitrangi Valley 1941, during war time, all those involved - the victims, families = its not a social media story for those who had no knowledge of the happenings to comment sorry.
Cheryl Hedley
My father in law Bill Hedley was one of the detectives working on that case
Cathy Howat
Cheryl Hedley Dad and his mates helped to search for him
Bevan Pringle
Every time I go and have a look at Stan’s grave there is all ways flowers on it from someone
Bevan Pringle
Some one has cleared his head stone up it was covered in moss
Bevan Pringle
I see some one has just repaint Stan’s head stone it was covered in moss and has more flowers on it
Jean Wilson
Stan had children maybe they are keeping the grave nice ?
Helen Burns
Always visit Stans grave when over Hokitika
Des O'Connell
In 1968 a few guys from Runanga went down and cleared the weeds and painted it a few days later it was in the paper it said maybe family had done it
Crow Bay
Des O'Connell Yep we did Des. As teenagers getting hounded a lot we were a bit anti police lol
Sceary Pahl
May be an image of 1 person, standing and outdoors
Ian Mehrtens
From what I have heard Stanly was a well liked man ,driven to madnes ,Anthia Keenans comment is well said, so if some 1 wants to put a stone and flower on a grave good on them,let by gons be by gons and don't judge a book by it's cover .
Cathy Howat
Ian Mehrtens No, he wasn't! He was always regarded with caution. My father knew him as well as anyone could. Dad beat him at the Greymouth Gun Club shooting match in 36 and 38. He was NOT HAPPY at losing! Dad and his mates were careful not to hunt near his land. My best friends late dad Laurie Walsh was a musterer working on the Coast at the time. They avoided him like the plague. The Maori musterers in the gang, reckoned he was possessed by an evil spirit.
Ian Mehrtens
Well Cathy if you don't like my comment, that's up to you, I'm only going from people the I have talked to, Any way it should be all water under the bridge why sier up the past.
Mark Boon
Janine Burton
Mark Robertson
Sounds very similar to the Kelly family and the familys of the police that were killed hunting Ned Kelly and his mates and brother, People never forget even after 2,3 or 4 generations, Glenrowan and surrounding areas in Victoria are similar to the Coast as in country areas where members of the familys are still there living in the same area often still on the same land, To many these are stories of people but to the familys involved it is very painful and knowing the suffering their elders endured, One must also remember Stan Grahams children and grandchildren are also victims of that terrible event,
Arthur Dehn
I remember everything about that episode during the war, My brother acted in the movie, such a sad event!
Nina Townsend
All these years later & mental health is no further advanced
Robert Wilson
a great old chap living in the single mens huts at the ruatapu mill in the 60s,told me when you toss a coin and it lands on the ground, like a lot of things in life ,you can only see one side theres allways two, i have found this often so true,,\Dianne Smith
From what my parents told me & they were there on the farm, it is better left alone instead of coming up all the time.
Geoffrey Collis
When a person transitions from depression to psychosis no rational thoughts go on and your beliefs become real and without help, things go very very wrong especially if people close to you convince you that you are right
Arthur Dehn
At our school in Whataroa we were all talking about it , one or two in my class knew of the young Graham boy s
· Reply · 23h
Cathy Howat
Arthur Dehn What happened to the kids?
· Reply · 23h
Kaye Millar
Cathy Howat They had to be given new identities owing to the bullying they received at school in Christchurch. Even so, through no fault of their own, they would have had to live with the stigma of their father's mental illness and his fatal actions.
· Reply · 20h
Arthur Dehn
Kaye Millar I re the kids boasting about their father hiding out in the dugout
· Reply · 3h
Write a reply…
Anna Osborne
Just tried looking up the movie and doco on him. I am intrigued with reading all of the above. I am unable to find it on You Tube or Netflix. I put in the title, 'Bad Blood.' Can anyone tell me where I can view it pls?
· Reply · 21h
Laura Mills Detlaff
Admin
Not sure but the book it's based on is in the Greymouth library, it's a great read - Bad Blood by H A Willis
· Reply · 20h
Anna Osborne
Laura Mills Detlaff thanks
· Reply · 18h
Marie Summers
Anna Osborne its on amazon
· Reply · 18h
Warren Hogg
Anna Osborne we have the DVD at the bach on the coast. You are welcome to borrow it. Great movie with one of my high school teachers acting in it too.
· Reply · 18h
Anna Osborne
Warren Hogg yes pls, I'd love to borrow it
Anna Osborne
Marie Summers thanks
Warren Hogg
No problems. We are over that way Easter weekend so will catch up then if u are around or will bring it back to chch and post it to you.
Anna Osborne
Warren Hogg pls leave in letter box if you want. I really want to see it
Anthony John Travis
He pulled the trigger, leave sleeping dogs to lie
Rose Nolan
I think you will find circumstances so tragic surrounding this event families in the area did not engage in conversation that related to the time. What a terrible tragedy. Stanley did have family
Gina Schroder
https://www.nzonscreen.com/title/bad-blood-1982 Excerpts 5 mins
Jude Wastney
What is really sad is the fact that that Stanley was mentally ill and Hokitika had one of the best Mental hospitals in the country. Unfortunately in those days there was fear and shame to either to be admitted or have family admitted to any institution like Seaview. If you had epilepsy, Parkinsons or any other illness like this you were put in there unlike these days. As the Coast is full of small towns and everybody knows somebody who knows somebody else Seaview was not on the priority list even if you were mentally ill. I would hope that these days people are more comfortable asking for help when experiencing an illness that is not visible. A sad day for the families involved as well as the people of the Coast.
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West Coast New Zealand History (22nd Mar 2021). Stanley Graham grave. In Website West Coast New Zealand History. Retrieved 5th Apr 2026 23:27, from https://westcoast.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/29128