Erebus memorial: Government application deferred until next year

Monday, 2 December 2019

An architectural illustration of the proposed memorial.

The fate of a controversial national Erebus memorial will not be decided until next year, after the Government deferred its application for landowner consent.

Waitematā Local Board was set to make a decision on Tuesday about whether the memorial, Te Paerangi Ataata – Sky Song, would be erected in Auckland's Parnell Rose Gardens, otherwise known as Dove-Myer Robinson Park.

However, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage announced on Monday afternoon it had deferred its application for final landowner approval until resource consent and Heritage NZ approvals were secured.

It would be in contact with the local board about arranging an alternative time in 2020, it said.

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Last week marked the 40th anniversary of the Erebus crash.

* Design for national Erebus memorial unveiled in Auckland**

Family, friends and colleagues gathered at the Erebus Crew Memorial Garden to commemorate the 40 years since the incident.

Te Paerangi Ataata – Sky Song has been cause for contention among local residents, who said it would make them sad at a place they want to drink wine and climb trees.

Opponents also said the memorial would ruin the look of Dove-Myer Robinson Park and the wider area.

'Robbie's park' was too small and the memorial too big, they said.

On November 28, 1979, 257 died when Air New Zealand flight 901 crashed into the side of Mt Erebus in Antarctica.

It remains the worst civil accident in New Zealand's history.

Brodie Stubbs, project lead at the ministry, said it had deferred the application as the resource consent and Heritage New Zealand processes would usefully inform the board's final decision.

The ministry had lodged an application for resource consent with Auckland Council and was responding with 'additional information' to support the application, Stubbs said.

It would undertake a survey of the site to investigate whether was any features were of 'archaeological significance' that would affect its ability to build the memorial.

Stubbs said the ministry had already met the requirements set by the Waitematā Local Board when it granted landowner approval in principle in 2018.

Te Paerangi Ataata – Sky Song was announced as the winning design for the National Erebus Memorial in April following a national competition.

According to the Ministry of Culture and Heritage, the proposed memorial reflected the 'enormity of the Erebus tragedy without losing the adventurous spirit of the crew and passengers'.

'Its stainless steel and concrete details evoke the stark beauty of the Antarctic environs,' the ministry said.

It was designed by Studio Pacific Architecture in collaboration with artists Jason O'Hara and Warren Maxwell.