The Erebus memorial that caused pain not peace
Friday, 28 November 2025
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Efforts to get a memorial to those who died on Mt Erebus in this country’s worst peacetime disaster have been plagued by dissent, argument, and bureaucratic bungling. On the 46th anniversary of Flight TE901’s crash in Antarctica, Mike White traces the controversial path to Thursday’s announcement of a memorial in Christchurch.
2017 - 2018: Good intentions and first steps
On November 28 2017, new Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced a national Erebus memorial would be built within two years, to mark the 40th anniversary of the tragedy.
“We have waited too long already,” she said, promising a place where “all New Zealanders can come to pay their respects and remember this sad event”.
Because 71% of passengers came from Auckland and the North Island, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage (MCH) decided the memorial’s home would be in Auckland, and in 2018 Ardern said it would be built in Parnell’s Dove-Myer Robinson Park.
2019 - 2023: Not in our backyard
Parnell resident Anne Coney saw a small news item about the proposed memorial and, fearing the loss of an area about the size of two tennis courts near a large pōhutukawa tree in the park, began opposition group Save Robbie’s Park.
“That’s the only thing I care about, for future generations, for children to be able to run around the tree, climb it, and then do roly-polies down the lawn,” Coney said.
Her campaign grew, attracted the support of Māori leader Dame Naida Glavish, and in February 2021, just before construction was due to begin, protesters occupied the site with tents, blocking entrances to prevent machinery arriving.
They were eventually issued eviction notices by Auckland City Council in November 2021, but construction still didn’t begin.
This was in part due to an Ombudsman’s investigation, which in 2022 ruled MCH had acted unreasonably in its consultation over the memorial.
Before progress could be made, the Auckland anniversary weekend floods of January 2023 caused a slip near the memorial site, which led to MCH abandoning it.
2024: The Christchurch connection
So, after more than five years, MCH went back to the drawing board.
It investigated other sites in Auckland but, by now, those involved with these sites were wary of welcoming the memorial, given the ugly standoff in Parnell.
The one site on MCH’s list that remained popular with Erebus families, adjacent to the Michael Joseph Savage memorial at Bastion Point, stalled, because Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei couldn’t reach agreement on using its land for the memorial.
So MCH began looking elsewhere.
In 2024, The Post revealed MCH was proposing placing the memorial in Wellington, at the Pukeahu National War Memorial Park.
It was a move that shocked and dismayed many Erebus families, who pointed out their loved ones were on a sightseeing flight, not going to war.
And it shocked the Returned and Services’ Association (RSA), which MCH hadn’t contacted, and didn’t know about the plan until approached by The Post. It strongly opposed MCH’s idea.
So MCH, seemingly desperate to solve what had become a controversial problem, cast its net even more widely and, behind the scenes, approached Christchurch City Council about putting the memorial in its city.
This was despite knowing that of the 257 Erebus victims, 106 came from Auckland, 77 from the rest of the North Island, 14 from the South Island, and just two from Christchurch.
In November 2024, it asked Erebus families which city they wanted the memorial in - Auckland, Wellington, or Christchurch.
The results were clear: 56% wanted Auckland; 27% Christchurch; and 16% Wellington.
Despite this, MCH continued pushing the Christchurch proposal and in December 2024 Mayor Phil Mauger made an offer to have the memorial in his city.
2025: Come on down
Three potential sites in Christchurch were identified: Cracroft Reserve in the Port Hills; the Avon River in the city centre; and St James’ Church near the airport.
Despite the process having taken nearly eight years to that point, family members were given just nine days to respond to another survey about which Christchurch site they preferred, giving the majority no chance to visit the locations.
Of the 109 responses (representing just 29% of Erebus families), 57 unequivocally supported the Avon River, compared to 37 who supported Cracroft Reserve unconditionally.
Regardless, officials recommended Cracroft Reserve to Christchurch city councillors, leading to one Erebus family member describing it as “the silver medallist being declared the winner”.
However, in a blow to MCH’s preference, councillors voted to offer both sites for the memorial.
What is lost in discussion about Christchurch hosting the memorial, is that even its mayor appreciated it wasn’t what the majority of Erebus families wanted.
“It is very much our hope that the memorial will be built in Auckland,” Mauger wrote to a family member in late-August, following the council’s offer of the Christchurch sites.
But on Thursday, MCH chief executive Leauanae Laulu Mac Leauanae presented families with a picture of a ministry that had run out of options.
He said Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei had taken Bastion Point off the table; MCH had been unable to find a suitable location in the country’s largest city, which covers nearly 5000km², despite considering 50 sites; and Christchurch was their “best opportunity” to get a memorial.
“At this point, we simply must make decisions that will progress the memorial.”
In a decision that surprised few, given MCH’s enthusiasm for the Christchurch option, Leauanae announced the memorial would be located at Cracroft Reserve.
“I appreciate this may not be the news you want to hear,” he said, reading from a prepared script.
And then, summing up the fraught and flummoxing eight-year process thus far, and cognisant that MCH surveys had shown the majority of Erebus families didn’t want the memorial to be in Christchurch, he confronted the reality of his ministry’s efforts.
“I must acknowledge that not everyone is going to be happy with the decisions I have made.”
Those left behind, and those left disappointed
Leauanae is right. Many have been left disappointed and dispirited.
Martin Stokes, who lost his father Alan on Flight TE901, said he was angry at the “incredibly poor job” MCH had done.
“We’ve ended up with something that is so far away from the guiding principles and what was promised, it’s staggering, just extraordinary.”
Many had felt patronised and ignored by MCH senior staff during the process, and it didn’t matter what Erebus families said they needed, MCH did what it wanted, Stokes said.
“And that’s now been made abundantly clear.
“The process of appearing to try and have a consultative approach where families could expect to have some kind of input into decisions was a farce, really.”
Stokes said it was inconceivable MCH and the Government couldn’t find a site in Auckland for the memorial.
“Beyond the spinning, and the patronising, and them being thin-skinned and defensive, there’s just the sense they had long enough to turn a relatively straightforward project into reality. But they didn’t, they just didn’t. They failed.”
Stokes wasn’t sure if he would visit the memorial when it was completed, because he’d always had an image in his mind of something that would represent the significance of the Erebus tragedy in New Zealand’s history.
“That, to me, is gone. It’s just lost. It’s got no relevance in that location.”
Paul Gilberd, whose grandfather Peter Tanton was killed in the crash, will visit the memorial - but not as often as he would have if it had been in Auckland.
“It’s going to be a real win for Air New Zealand, because most of the families are in Auckland, so we’re going to have to travel down to Christchurch,” Gilberd said, noting the irony that it was the national airline that was responsible for the crash.
“There’s an overwhelming sense of relief that it’s going to happen, and an extraordinarily deep level of disappointment in Auckland,” Gilberd said. “I mean, how hard is it really, in the whole isthmus of Auckland, to find something?”
Christine Edney, whose sister, Lorraine Burton, died on her 40th birthday on Erebus, said she was equally disappointed the memorial wouldn’t be in Auckland, and that nobody there, from mayor, to councillors, to iwi, wanted it enough to make it happen.
But she was glad something would finally be built. “Just get on and get it done.”
Today’s anniversary was not only her sister’s birthday, but the birthday of Edney’s son, Michael, who was born the day of the tragedy, making it a day of mixed memories.
Burton was due to get off the Erebus flight in Christchurch, to spend time with her bridesmaid and best friend from school, and Edney said she would visit the city when the memorial was built.
Her brother, Richard Collin, said the Dove-Myer Robinson Park site was perfect, and he believed MCH’s decision to abandon it on geotechnical grounds was just an excuse to avoid ongoing controversy.
And it had been apparent for some time, Collin said, that MCH was going to put the memorial in Christchurch, something that was reinforced by Leauanae’s announcement.
“It was, ‘My decision is final. Like it or lump it.’ That was his attitude.”
Kathryn Carter, the eldest daughter of TE901’s pilot, Jim Collins, was extremely grateful to MCH and Christchurch for their work to get a memorial.
“But we remain disappointed that, despite the best efforts of so many people, the memorial can’t be built in Auckland, where the majority of family members still live.”