Call for wider consultation on memorial for patients' unmarked graves
Photo:
Supplied/ Porirua City Council
A memorial is being set up to recognise the more than 1800 former patients of Porirua Hospital who were buried in unmarked graves.
Porirua City Council is creating the memorial and Pacific leaders want to be meaningfully involved in the process, by incorporating prayer, language and ceremonial practices.
More than 50 people gathered at Porirua Cemetery in June, after the council's plans became public, many of whom were descendants of those buried without headstones.
Porirua cemeteries manager Daniel Chrisp was encouraged to see families engaging with the project.
Daniel Chrisp speaks at a Family Forum held beside the Porirua Cemetery chapel.
Photo:
Supplied/ Facebook - Friends of Porirua Cemetery
Chrisp's team placed 99 pegs to mark the graves of families who had come forward so far and he said one attendee told him it was deeply moving to photograph the site where two relatives were buried.
"It's fantastic that we've got to this point, having the descendants of those in unmarked graves encouraged to be involved," Chrisp said. "These plots represent mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, children and other relatives, so it's important to a lot of people."
The Porirua Lunatic Asylum, which later became Porirua Hospital, operated from 1887 until the 1990s. At its peak in the 1960s, it was one of Aotearoa New Zealand's largest hospitals, housing more than 2000 patients and staff.
As part of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care, the government
established a national fund
for headstones for unmarked graves.
Porirua City Council applied for $200,000 to install a memorial that would list every known name.
However, some Pacific community leaders say they were never consulted, despite Pacific people being among the deceased.
Porirua Cook Islands Association chairperson Teurukura Tia Kekena said this was the first she had heard of the project and was concerned Pacific communities had not been included in conversations so far.
"If there was any unmarked grave and the Porirua City Council is aware of the names, I would have thought they would have contacted the ethnic groups these people belonged to," she says.
"From a Cook Islands point of view, we need to acknowledge these people. They need to be fully acknowledged."
Porirua Hospital in the early 1900s.
Photo:
Supplied / Porirua City Council
Kekena learned about the project only after being contacted by a reporter, despite the council's ongoing efforts to identify names and place markers for families who had come forward.
The council's application for funding was part of its response to the Royal Commission of Inquiry.
Kekena said it was important how the council managed the memorial, adding that it mattered deeply for Cook Islands families and the wider Pacific community, especially those with relatives buried at the site.
She believed a proper memorial should reflect Pacific values, particularly the importance of faith, family and cultural protocol.
"It's huge," she said. "It's connecting us to these people - just thinking about it is getting me emotional.
"Like I said, the Pākehā way of acknowledging is totally different from our way. When we acknowledge, when we go for an unveiling, it's about family.
"It's about family. It's about family honouring the person that had passed and we do it in a way that we have a service at the graveside with the orometua [minister] present.
"Yeah, unveil the stone by the family, by the immediate family, if there were any here at that time."
She also underscored the connection between remembering the deceased and healing intergenerational trauma, particularly given the site's history with mental health.
"It helps a lot, it's a way of healing the trauma. I don't know how these people came to be buried in an unmarked grave, but to me, it's like they were just put there and forgotten about.
"I wouldn't like to have my family buried in a place and be forgotten."
Kekena urged the council to work closely with the Cook Islands community moving forward, and said she would bring the matter back to her association to raise awareness and check possible connections between local families and the names identified.
Yvonne Underhill‑Sem, a Cook Islands community leader and professor of Pacific studies at the University of Auckland, said the memorial had emotional significance, noting her personal connection as a Porirua native to Whenua Tapu
,
another Porirua cemetery.
"In terms of our Pacific understandings of ancestry, everybody who passes away is still part of our whānau," she said. "The fact that we don't know who they are is unsettling.
"It would be a real relief to the families involved and to the generations that follow to have those graves named."
A Porirua City Council spokesperson said they had actively shared the list of names with the public and encouraging all communities, including Pacific groups, genealogists and local iwi, to help spread the word.
So far, 99 families had come forward.
"We would encourage any networks, such as Pacific, genealogists and local iwi, to share the list around for members of the public to get in touch," the spokesperson said.
The list of names is available on the council's website and includes both a downloadable file
and a searchable online tool
.
Porirua City Councillors Izzy Ford and Moze Galo say the memorial must reflect Pacific values.
Photo:
Supplied/ Porirua City Council - RNZ
Porirua City Councillors Izzy Ford and Moze Galo - two of the three Pacific members on the council - said Pacific families must be central to the memorial process.
Ford said burial sites carried deep cultural weight for Pacific communities.
"We know that burial sites are more than just places of rest,"Ford said. "They are sacred spaces that hold our stories, our ancestry and dignity - they are our connection to those who came before us."
Public notices and websites were not enough, she said.
"If we are serious about finding the families of those buried in unmarked graves here in Porirua, we have to go beyond public notices and websites."
Government funding would be limited and council must work with trusted Pacific networks to reach families, Ford said.
"It means partnering with groups who carry trust in our community... Pacific churches, elders and organisations communicating in our languages through Pacific radio, social media, community events, churches and health providers."
Galo agreed, and said the memorial must reflect Pacific values in both design and feeling.
"It should feel warm, colourful, spiritual and welcoming," he said. "Include Pacific designs, carvings and symbols... there should be room for prayer, music and quiet reflection.
"Being seen and heard brings healing, honour, and helps restore our connection to our ancestors. It reminds our families that we belong, that our history matters and that our voice is valued in this space."
Galo said the work must continue beyond the unveiling.
"Community involvement shouldn't stop after the memorial is built. We should have a role in how it's maintained and used in the future.
"These were real people with families, love and lives that mattered. Some were buried without names, without ceremony and that left a deep pain.
"Honouring them now is a step toward healing and a way of saying, 'You were never forgotten'."
Members of the public who recognise a family name on the list are encouraged to get in touch, by emailing cemeteries@poriruacity.govt.nz.
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles

RNZ News
4 hours ago
- RNZ News
Health Ministry issues first warning about vaping product
A man vaping Photo: AFP/ ANP MAG - Koen van Weel A public warning about a vaping product has been issued by the Ministry of Health for the first time this week. It issued a warning for Suntree Salts - Vanilla Cream 18mg nic (30ml) yesterday, saying it contained too much of a chemical associated with an inflammatory lung disease called 'popcorn lung'. The product - which has four times the allowable limit of the flavour compound diacetyl - is now being recalled. Under the regulatory framework of the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Act 1990, pre-market testing or approval of vaping products is not required, with vaping product manufacturers and importers notifying the ministry about their products and providing information about how their products met safety standards. "When the product was first notified in 2024, information was incorrectly supplied by the notifier (Hoopers Vapour Limited). This information was correctly supplied in 2025, and non-compliance was picked up by the ministry at this time and the notifier informed of the non-compliance," the ministry said in a statement. It said Hoopers Vapour Limited, which imports the product for sale in New Zealand, had proactively taken steps to remove the product from the market and had withdrawn its product notification. "A consumer level recall is currently being undertaken by the notifier and the ministry is assisting with ensuring that these steps are being taken." "The ministry is concerned that the product has entered the market and has issued a public warning about the Suntree Vanilla Cream vaping substance. As this is an evolving situation the ministry will not comment on the potential for enforcement action." The ministry said it had previously prompted notifiers to withdraw products on the basis that they did not meet nicotine labelling claims or had tested above the legal nicotine limit. Twenty-four products prohibited for sale are listed on the ministry's website. The ministry said last year it focused product testing on nicotine concentration and tested 250 products out of the approximately 7000 products available for sale. It said it considered this "sufficiently robust to provide insight into product compliance". "Where non-compliant products are identified the ministry generally works with the notifier to ensure compliance. This may be through removing the product from the market or in some situations taking enforcement action." But advocacy group Vape Free Kids NZ has called for the frequency and scope of testing for vape products to be increased. Co-founder Charyl Robinson said the regular checking and testing undertaken by the ministry only covered around three percent of the overall number of vapes and e-liquids for sale. "It's entirely a game of chance to know if a dangerous product is being sold possibly to hundreds of people," she said. In the case of Suntree Salts - Vanilla Cream, she said that product had been on the market omore than 18 months before it was picked up. "The system relies on the tobacco and vaping industry to honestly declare their products are safe and provide their own testing data when they notify a product for sale." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

RNZ News
6 hours ago
- RNZ News
Health NZ makes hundreds of millions in savings - but says more are needed
Health NZ is aiming to get the deficit down to $200m by the end of the 2025-26 financial year. Photo: RNZ Health NZ (HNZ) has reduced its deficit by hundreds of millions of dollars more than expected, but says more savings are needed to rein it in further. The deficit for the recently-ended financial year was expected to be $1.1 billion, about $650m less than last year's forecast. Health NZ's new statement of performance expectations for 2025-26 says there will be a "particular focus on improving internal productivity and ongoing tight control of costs". It would be "making better use of the overall capacity of the hospital and specialist services... as well as building partnerships with private hospitals", said the 55-page statement. The agency had been losing more than $140m every month late last year, before changes were made. The new aim was to get the deficit down to $200m by the end of the 2025-26 financial year. The government has put Lester Levy at the head of a newly reconstituted HNZ board , after saying he had delivered as commissioner on improving finances and services. Any new spending would be "tightly aligned to priorities", said the statement. It was signed off by Levy at the end of June, in one of his final acts as commissioner, a role created after the board was sacked amid budget blow-out and recriminations in mid-2024. The statement sets out what HNZ will do this year to deliver on its 2024-28 goals. "For this financial year, and the next, we will continue to implement a work programme that focuses on bringing our pathway back to budget, bedding in our regional structures and bringing in new ways of working," said the statement. Among the three key risks was delivering "healthcare outcomes whilst also delivering fiscal efficiencies". Another was workforce relations, capacity and personnel cost pressure. Handling the risks would require stabilising teams, bedding in an operating model focused on local delivery, "with clear decision-rights and accountabilities". It would also require "deepening partnerships with private sector providers where this presents good value". Most of the 2024-25 deficit was due to a $1.4 billion deficit in hospital and specialist services for that period. That was attributed to lower than budgeted appropriation revenue, "investments made to improve access to planned care" - contracting with private hospitals is being overhauled - and other cost pressures, such as gas prices going up. There were also surpluses in other areas, including $270m in primary and community care services. The statement showed the cost of outsourcing personnel is expected to drop from $430m last year to $260m, while outsourced service costs are forecast to rise by 25 percent to a billion dollars. One wildcard around personnel costs this year is paying back current and former staff for breaches of the Holidays Act over several years, which is expected to total about $1.5 billion. So far $522m has been paid back to 70,000 current staff. The rest - to some current staff, balance of interim payments and to all former staff registered with Health NZ - is expected to be all paid out by mid-2026. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

RNZ News
10 hours ago
- RNZ News
Is there confusion over the role of 'physician associates'?
An investigation ordered by the UK government into physician associates there has found they shouldn't diagnose and treat untriaged patients. It also recommends changing their name to "assistant" rather than associate to stop them being confused with doctors. Four months ago the Health Minister, Simeon Brown, gave the go ahead for Physician Associates to become part of the regulated health workforce here. At the moment the PA's working here are trained in the UK or the US and work under the licence of a supervising doctor. The New Zealand Resident Doctors' Association has backed the two main findings of the UK report, but the New Zealand Physicians Associate Society says the situation in the UK isn't applicable here. Kathryn is joined by Deborah Powell the National Secretary of the Resident Doctors Association and Lisa deWolfe the regulation chair of the New Zealand Physician Associate Society. To embed this content on your own webpage, cut and paste the following: See terms of use.