As its name implies Kyeburn Diggings, like the many settlements in the Maniototo, is derived from the early gold miners’ pursuit of gold the 1860s, followed by coal mining in Kyeburn’s case. It is now a farming district, but once this settlement boosted a public school with up to 60 children as well as a hotel. Little now remains of this thriving mining settlement except for its cemetery sitting as a sentinel to the past on the road to Danseys Pass below the Kakanui Range.

About 129 burials are known to have occurred at Kyeburn Diggings Cemetery, but only 73 records remain. A fire in 1912 destroyed the cemetery record book. Remaining copies of the records are held in Maniototo Early Settlers Museum at Naseby and at the Ranfurly Service Centre. The cemetery continues to be in use today and is administered and maintained by the Kyeburn Diggings Cemetery Trust.

The burials and records are managed by the Trust.