Northland memorial for 499 Chinese miners whose bodies went down with ship

Sunday, 10 May 2020

The history of the SS Ventnor and its precious cargo will be memorialised for all.

A memorial for a ship sunk off Northland's west coast will recognise hundreds of Chinese nationals lost far from home.

Race Relations Commissioner Meng Foon says he hopes it will make his ancestors proud.

The ill-fated SS Ventnor sunk off the Hokianga coast in 1902 after hitting a reef off Taranaki. Thirteen passengers and sailors died.

The SS Ventnor memorial planned for Opononi will tell the story of the ill-fated ship and its precious cargo.

But theirs were not the only bodies that went down with the ship: The SS Ventnor was chartered to repatriate the bones of 499 Chinese miners to China’s Guangdong province after they died in New Zealand.

Angela Sew Hoy, the great-great granddaughter of Chinese gold miner Choie Sew Hoy, was amazed when artefacts from the SS Ventnor were discovered in 2014. Choie Sew Hoy's remains were lost on the ship when it sunk in 1902.

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Race Relations Commissioner and chairman of the New Zealand Chinese Association, Meng Foon, says the SS Ventnor is a sad tale but helped bring together Māori and Chinese people.

The repatriation was to fulfil the Chinese tradition of families tending the graves of their loved ones yearly, to ensure them a good afterlife and prosperity for their descendants.

Items from wreck of the SS Ventnor were brought to the surface in 2014. The ship was carrying the remain of hundreds of Chinese miners.

The dead whose relatives could not perform the appropriate cultural observances — such as offering incense and food — became known as 'hungry ghosts' and were feared not to rest in peace.

When the bones washed ashore, they were gathered by Hokianga locals — including iwi members from Te Roroa and Te Rarawa — and buried near Te Roroa ancestral burial grounds and the local Rawene cemetery.

Meng Foon, the chairman of the New Zealand Chinese Association, said this started a close relationship between Chinese New Zealanders and the Māori of Hokianga.

'From a race-relations point of view, it's a continuous journey of harmonious respect and [the memorial] is sharing our shared history with the rest of the world.'

The memorial was designed by Auckland and New York-based TT Architects whose founders, Richard Tam and Robert Tse, are both descendants of early Chinese New Zealand settlers.

An unveiling, blessing and dedication was held in 2013 but a year later, the shipwreck of SS Ventnor was discovered.

Members of the Chinese Association were initially alarmed at the lack of consultation over diving on the wreck and recovering artefacts.

The 147m-deep wreck is now classed as an archaeological site by Heritage New Zealand Pauhere Taonga.

The Chinese Association's memorial will have information panels commemorating those lost and outlining the history of the event in English, Māori and Chinese languages.

Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones said a $100,000 Provincial Growth Fund grant will allow the memorial to be built at the Hokianga town of Opononi, at the Manea Footprints of Kupe centre.

The interactive marae-run centre will be dedicated to New Zealand's first discoverer, Kupe. It is due to open in late 2020.

Foon said the memorial and the centre would tell an authentic story.

'I think both projects stand tall and proud, as part of the shared history of New Zealand,' he said.

'We have a very good relationship with Manea and we know the relationship will endure many centuries and many generations into the future.'

The pre-fabricated memorial is expected to be open in a few months.

'I hope that we do our ancestors proud,' Foon said.