Erebus crash: Families 'relieved' as memorial to honour victims approved

Monday, 16 November 2020

Stuff reporter Michael Wright, who's behind the podcast series White Silence, talks to RNZ about the importance of Erebus.

A national memorial to commemorate the victims of the Erebus disaster will be built almost 41 years on from the tragedy.

Members of the Waitematā Local Board voted 4-3 on Tuesday to back plans for the controversial memorial at Dove Myer Robinson Park, otherwise known as the Parnell Rose Gardens.

The project has faced stiff opposition from residents of the central Auckland suburb, who believe the memorial is not suited for the park.

Te Paerangi Ataata – Sky Song is the favoured design for the memorial, consisting of a white concrete walkway leading out to the Waitematā Harbour.

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

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Steel walls rise on either side of the path, with 257 snowflakes carved into one of the walls to represent each life lost in the 1979 plane crash.

Kathryn Carter is the daughter of Jim Collins, who was the pilot of the Air New Zealand plane that crashed into Mount Erebus on November 28, 1979.

A memorial to honour the victims of the Erebus disaster has been approved for construction almost 41-years after the tragedy.

”We’re thrilled and relieved that the right decision was made today, and we thank all the people that have been involved in bringing this to its final conclusion,” she said.

“Being the captain, he (Jim) was always responsible for his passengers, and we’ve always to some degree felt responsible for all the passengers this died on that flight that day.'

Carter said Dove Myer Robinson Park had already become a place of solace for Erebus family members and supportive members of the public since the site was selected two years ago.

Many Parnell residents are opposed to the project, arguing the structure is not suited for Dove Myer Robinson Park.

“It’s a beautiful place looking towards the sea in a secluded setting with trees cloaking the site,” she said.

“Ngāti Whātua o Ōrākei have blessed the land for this important national memorial, it’s New Zealand's worst loss of life outside of war.”

The location for the memorial was initially supported by the Waitematā Local Board, but the process was sent to public consultation in September 2019 following backlash from the community.

Carter said the opposition to the Erebus memorial has been incredibly difficult.

Kathryn Carter, who lost her father in the Erebus plane crash, is supportive of the memorial and says public opposition has been “retraumatising”.

“After 41 years of grief and pain, to hear detractors publicly criticise the memorial is retraumatising,” she said.

“Each denial, each negative comment like ‘not here’, or that Dove Myer Robinson Park needs to be ‘protected’ from Erebus, is incredibly hard to take, especially when false information has been perpetuated by those who don’t want it in what they perceive as ‘their’ park. It is a public space.”

In total, 895 submissions were received during the consultation period, with 509 opposing building the memorial at the park.

Parnell resident Jo Malcolm, whose husband’s father was an Erebus victim, said she supported a memorial but believed the structure would be “completely out of place” at the park.

“The structure is substantial, solid, impermeable and view-blocking.

“They are proposing to erect it at the soft, natural heart of a revered, green open space,” she said.

“It is an open space that the community treasure and future generations will need even more than we do. It’s a very significant building, in a tiny pocket of an historic park.”

Auckland Council parks and places team leader David Barker said the end of the walkway would provide a vantage point from which views out to the Waitematā Harbour can be enjoyed.

“The memorial structure and path have a footprint of 175 square metres. This is a comparatively small footprint over a site of 55,600 square metres,” he said.

“The land contours and spread of mature specimen trees across Dove-Myer Robinson Park mean that the proposed memorial would remain unseen from most other locations within the park.'

The project is being sponsored and led by the Ministry for Culture and Heritage, which selected Dove-Myer Robinson Park from a short list of five sites in central Auckland.

Of particular importance in the decision was the preference expressed by many Erebus families that the memorial be located at a site that was tranquil, accessible and park like.