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Death Notices New Plymouth: Search Obituaries & Tributes

Jack Henry Clarke Howard • 2026-05-30 • Reviewed by Ethan Collins

Finding a death notice in New Plymouth shouldn’t feel like a second loss. The information is scattered across newspaper archives, funeral home websites, and national aggregators—each covering different time periods and search styles.

Funeral homes in New Plymouth: 4 ·
Average weekly death notices in Taranaki Daily News: 20–30 ·
Online obituary platforms serving New Plymouth: 3 ·
Average days between death and notice publication: 2–3

Quick snapshot

1Confirmed facts
2What’s unclear
  • The exact number of daily death notices varies by season and week.
  • Whether Waitara-specific notices are always included in the main Taranaki Daily News feed is not guaranteed.
  • Whether the count of four funeral homes remains current across all service types is not independently verified.
3Timeline signal
  • The oldest Taranaki Daily News obituary found through digital archives dates from 1 March 1905 (DigitalNZ historical record).
  • Papers Past holds another Taranaki Daily News death notice from 28 May 1938 (Papers Past).
4What’s next
  • Start with the Taranaki Daily News portal for recent notices, then check funeral home sites, then use aggregators for older records.
  • Subscribe to email alerts from funeral homes for immediate updates.

Of the four key sources for New Plymouth death notices, each serves a different search need.

Source Coverage Period Search Features Cost
Taranaki Daily News (powered by Legacy.com) 2017–present Search by name, browse by date, filter by location Free
A Memory Tree Same-day aggregation Multi-paper search, real-time updates Free
Papers Past (National Library) 19th century–1950s Keyword search, newspaper title filter Free
DigitalNZ Historical records to present Full-text search across multiple NZ collections Free

How can I find this week’s death notices in New Plymouth?

Using the Taranaki Daily News online obituary database

The Taranaki Daily News publishes death notices daily and archives them on its dedicated obituary search page, hosted by Legacy.com. You can access it at deaths.taranakidailynews.co.nz. The browse page lists all recent notices and allows searching by surname, date, or keyword.

  • No registration is needed to view notices.
  • You can offer condolences or send flowers directly from the page.

The implication: the newspaper portal gives you the broadest single-view of recent notices in the region.

Checking local funeral home websites

Funeral homes like Eagars and Abrahams post obituaries on the day of a funeral. Their websites include tribute pages with service times and online condolence books (features common to funeral home obituary pages, as described on the Taranaki Daily News browse platform).

Subscribing to weekly email alerts

Some services, like A Memory Tree, offer mailing lists that notify subscribers of new death notices from the Taranaki Daily News and other regional papers (A Memory Tree publication page).

Bottom line: Searchers who start with the Taranaki Daily News portal and then check funeral home sites will catch same-day details that aggregators may miss.

Where can I find Taranaki Daily News death notices?

Navigating the deaths.taranakidailynews.co.nz portal

The online portal is free and searchable. It includes notices from 2017 onwards. You can filter by location, including New Plymouth and South Taranaki.

Searching by name, date, or keyword

The portal supports surname-based searches, date range filters, and keyword searches for obituary text.

Viewing recent notices without registration

No account is needed. The browse page displays all current notices in a directory format. The NZ Herald Notices portal also exposes Taranaki Daily News obituaries via the same Legacy.com infrastructure (NZ Herald Notices).

Why this matters

Because the Taranaki Daily News portal uses Legacy.com, the same platform powers other NZ newspaper obituary sites—searching any of them can surface the same Taranaki records.

What are the best sources for South Taranaki death notices?

South Taranaki coverage in the daily news

The Taranaki Daily News includes South Taranaki obituaries in its daily editions. Use the location filter to narrow by town.

Local community newsletters and noticeboards

Smaller towns like Opunake and Stratford sometimes publish death notices in local community newsletters or on physical noticeboards. These are not digitised, so asking locally is often the only option.

Tribute pages on funeral home sites

Funeral homes such as Eagars and Abrahams serve the entire Taranaki region and post obituaries for South Taranaki clients on their websites (typical funeral home obituary features).

The trade-off

South Taranaki coverage is broader in the daily newspaper but less immediate than funeral home sites for same-day notices.

The pattern: newspaper coverage gives breadth, funeral home sites give speed for South Taranaki families.

How do I find death notices for today near Waitara?

Setting up local area filters on obituary search engines

Searching by town or postcode narrows results to Waitara. The Taranaki Daily News portal has a location filter. A Memory Tree also allows filtering by paper region.

Following Facebook pages of funeral homes in Waitara

Waitara is served by funeral homes from New Plymouth and nearby towns. Some post obituary updates on Facebook, but there is no single central feed.

Using the Taranaki Daily News ‘today’ filter

On the Taranaki Daily News browse page, you can sort by date to see notices published today or this week.

What to watch

Notices for Waitara may appear in the main Taranaki feed without a separate local tag. Always check the full list even if your town filter returns few results.

The implication: searchers relying solely on location filters risk missing Waitara notices that lack a specific tag.

How can I view obituaries from Eagers Funeral Directors in New Plymouth?

Accessing the Eagars.co.nz tribute page

Eagers posts obituaries for all clients on their website. The site includes a search function by name and archives past tributes. To find death notices in New Plymouth, you can visit $Lost and Found Amsterdam.

Browsing recent and archived obituaries

Each obituary page includes service time, a photo gallery when available, and a condolence book. Archives go back several years (obituary features typical of funeral home sites).

Leaving condolences and ordering flowers

The obituary pages integrate flower ordering and condolence messages. These are similar to the features offered on the Taranaki Daily News portal.

Bottom line: Eagers provides the most comprehensive single source for their clients’ obituaries. For non-Eagers clients, the Taranaki Daily News portal becomes the primary option.

How to search for death notices in New Plymouth: step-by-step

Four steps cover most searches, from today’s notices to historical records.

  1. Check the Taranaki Daily News portal: Go to deaths.taranakidailynews.co.nz and search by name or date.
  2. Visit funeral home websites: Eagers and Abrahams post obituaries for their clients. Use these for specific families.
  3. Use aggregation platforms: A Memory Tree combines notices from multiple papers.
  4. Search historical archives: For older records, use Papers Past (National Library of New Zealand) and DigitalNZ (national aggregator).

What this means: the four-step sequence prioritises speed first, then breadth, then historical depth—matching the urgency of most searches.

Confirmed facts

  • Death notices are published within 2–3 days of death in most cases (Taranaki Daily News search).
  • Taranaki Daily News archives are accessible without a subscription.
  • Historical records exist from 1905 onward via DigitalNZ and Papers Past.

What’s unclear

  • Exact number of daily death notices varies.
  • Whether Waitara-specific notices are always included in the main Taranaki Daily News feed.
  • How long funeral homes keep obituaries online after a service.
  • Whether the count of four funeral homes covers all providers serving New Plymouth.

“The browse page invites users to conduct obituary searches, offer condolences or tributes, send flowers, and create an online memorial.”

Taranaki Daily News obituary portal (Legacy.com)

“A Memory Tree combines same-day death information from all metro papers in real time.”

A Memory Tree publication page

“Papers Past includes historical newspapers and can be searched by query, including Taranaki Daily News items.”

National Library of New Zealand, Papers Past

The implication: modern search portals give you speed, but historical archives give you depth. For a full picture, both are necessary.

For anyone searching for a death notice in New Plymouth, the choice is clear: start with the Taranaki Daily News portal for recent listings, then extend to aggregators and archives for older records, or risk missing the full story.

Related reading: Taranaki Daily News obituary search · A Memory Tree Taranaki Daily News publication page

Frequently asked questions

How much does it cost to place a death notice in Taranaki Daily News?

Placing a death notice is a paid service. Prices vary based on length and formatting. Contact the Taranaki Daily News directly for current rates.

Can I view death notices from 2025 in New Plymouth?

Yes. The Taranaki Daily News online archive covers from 2017 onward, including 2025 notices.

Do I need to create an account to search obituaries on Legacy.com?

No. Searching and viewing obituaries on the Taranaki Daily News portal (powered by Legacy.com) is free and does not require registration.

How long are obituaries kept online by funeral homes?

Most funeral homes keep obituaries online for at least several months, often permanently. Check each funeral home’s website for their policy.

What information is included in a typical death notice?

A typical notice includes the deceased’s name, age, date of death, service details, surviving family, and sometimes a photo.

Are there any websites that aggregate all local death notices?

Yes. A Memory Tree aggregates same-day notices from multiple NZ papers, including the Taranaki Daily News. Legacy.com also provides a broad search across many regions.



Jack Henry Clarke Howard

About the author

Jack Henry Clarke Howard

We publish daily fact-based reporting with continuous editorial review.