Erebus memorial: Start of construction rebuffed at contentious Auckland site

Tuesday, 19 October 2021

Watch a video of the Te Paerangi Ataata – Sky Song design, which shows how the memorial design will appear in the natural landscape of Dove-Myer Robinson Park.

The first effort to start building a memorial to victims of the Erebus disaster has been resisted in a stand-off between opponents, construction crew members and security guards in the Auckland suburb of Parnell.

The memorial, Te Paerangi Ataata – Sky Song, is to be erected at Dove-Myer Robinson Park, also known as the Parnell Rose Gardens.

But a resident said two trucks with fences, another car and trailer, and about 30 security guards arrived about 9am on Tuesday, to be greeted by about 20 opponents at a cone barrier.

Opponents of the Erebus memorial block access to the Parnell site.

A group of kaumātua had placed a rāhui, or ritual ban, on the site, banning work on the Manatū Taonga – Ministry of Culture and Heritage project. One of the elders was present on Tuesday morning.

* Bitter battle over Erebus memorial splits families, iwi, politicians and community

* Design for national Erebus memorial unveiled in Auckland

An artist's impression of the planned Erebus National Memorial, looking north over Waitematā Harbour.

The resident said a police officer arrived to talk to those gathered and, after about 20 minutes, the construction crew and security guards left.

In a statement issued before the crews were sent to the site on Tuesday morning, the ministry said its position was guided by the Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei Trust, whose rohe the site fell within.

“The hapū issued a press release recently, reaffirming its support for the memorial and confirming their hapū has not laid a cultural restriction on the site.”

Instead, the protest has been led by influential Māori leader Dame Naida Glavish, who said it was an “absolutely disappointment” the ministry would “simply walk across a rāhui as if it didn't exist”.

The “protectors of the ancient pōhutukawa tree” near the construction site were not against the memorial itself but did not want it to be constructed at Dove-Myer Robinson Park, she said.

“We would be failing the signatories of the Te Tiriti o Waitangi to not protect that tree.

Police talk to opponents who barred builders at the Erebus memorial site.

“And if a ministry of this Government cannot respect a rāhui in Tāmaki Makaurau, what makes any other iwi in this country want to trust the Government with regard to their heritage?”

A memorial was due to have been finished two years ago.

It is intended to honour the 257 people who died in the country’s worst air crash, when an Air New Zealand plane hit Mt Erebus in Antarctica during a sightseeing flight in 1979.

Those opposing the project on the Parnell site have been present since February but have not been staying overnight since Covid-19 restrictions were brought in.

The Chief Ombudsman, Judge Peter Boshier, said on October 4 that he would investigate processes followed by the ministry and the Auckland Council in relation to the project, but he could not review decisions made.

Manatū Taonga chief executive Bernadette Cavanagh said a “number of protestors” were blocking the entrance to the site when contractors arrived on Tuesday morning.

“Contractors have stood down while police and security have conversations with the protestors. We are taking a non-confrontational approach,” she said.

It was disappointing to see “protestors acting in this manner” because the ministry had “worked hard” over the past few months to address their concerns, she said.

Cavanagh wanted to assure the public that the pōhutukawa would “not be harmed by the establishment of the memorial” as it remained outside the construction area.

“It is safe, and will continue to be kept safe, throughout the construction of the memorial and beyond.”

A police officer has remained at the park site, talking to those opposing the start of the work.