Avonhead Park Cemetery opened in 1983 and is still open for casket and ash burials. The cemetery is surrounded by established trees in a park-like setting. Graves are marked either in the original lawn area with plaques or in the newer memorial area with headstones. When the cemetery was developed in the late 1970s and early 1980s it was proposed that there would be a complete absence of memorials in the cemetery - no headstones and no plaques. Instead, a metal tag was buried on the spot where the deceased lay and names were added to the memorial wall by the records room. A metal detector could be utilised to track the location of specific graves. However, this scheme did not find favour with the community and the placement of lawn cemetery style plaques was allowed. In 1993 additional areas were created allowing for upright memorials. The cemetery is not laid out in denominational divisions, however it is popular with the Polynesian and Asian communities and there are areas for children, stillborn and preborn. The extension to the cemetery was opened in August 2009 and includes the Interment Site for the Victims of the 2011 Christchurch Earthquake.