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Otago Daily Times
5 days ago
- General
- Otago Daily Times
Families hope proposed Christchurch sites end Erebus memorial wait
By Anna Sargent of RNZ Some families of Mt Erebus victims who have endured an excruciating wait for a national memorial hope the emergence of three potential sites in Christchurch will eventually put an end to years of controversy and delay. The Ministry for Culture and Heritage was seeking feedback from families about building a memorial on the Avon River bank in the central city, in Cracroft Reserve in Cashmere or the St James' Church grounds in Harewood to remember the 257 people killed in the plane crash in Antarctica in 1979. A plan for a memorial in Auckland's Dove Meyer Robinson Park in Parnell faced major pushback, with objectors claiming it would change the tone of the gardens. The plan was ultimately abandoned in 2023 after cyclone damage meant the land was unsafe to build on. The government committed to building a memorial in 2017. Erebus captain's daughter grateful for Chch offer Phil Stewart, who lost his aunt Dawn Matthews in the disaster, said the wait was frustrating. "For a lot of us, there's a fair bit of unresolved grief related to Erebus, and this dragging out hasn't helped," he said. "My own brother, who was equally keen for the memorial to be built, has died since this process started, so he never got to see the memorial. I'm sure there are a lot of other stories like that, too. "I just want it sorted, and I will be very sad if it descends to bickering about whether it should be Auckland or Christchurch. I just think we need to get it done." As a Wellingtonian, Stewart said he was neutral about which city the memorial should be built in, but it was ultimately important for it to be a respectful place where families could gather to reflect and remember. "Either place would involve some travel for me. I think Christchurch is fine, obviously Auckland was the first starting point, but to be honest, I think Auckland has had its chance and I think they've blown it," he said. The Avon River bank was Stewart's favourite option. "I've visited the earthquake memorial along there a couple of times, and it occurred to me this would be a nice site. It's very accessible, it's quite a peaceful setting, and it's in the heart of Christchurch. "To me, it also shows Christchurch is embracing the memorial and offering some hospitality, which is much appreciated. "Cracroft Park on the Port Hills is fine too, from a different perspective, it offers these sweeping views of the plains and mountains and is somehow more connected to the sky." David Allan, who lost his parents and sister in the Erebus disaster, told Checkpoint that a national memorial was long overdue. "My view is regardless of location, the important thing is that we actually have a memorial. I am ambivalent about whether it be Auckland or Christchurch," he said. "It's a complete indictment of our society that after all this time we don't have one, and it's still causing considerable anguish for a lot of people." Kathryn Carter, the eldest daughter of the late Erebus captain Jim Collins, said she wanted to see Auckland "take ownership" of the national memorial. She said the Christchurch offer was generous, but she believed Auckland was most suitable because it was home to a significant number of passengers and crew. The flight departed from Auckland, so the city would be the best place for the memorial to celebrate Erebus passengers' "journey into the unknown" and to celebrate their lives, Carter said. However, the whole country was involved in the tragedy, making it frustrating that there was still no memorial decades after the disaster. Christchurch mayor Phil Mauger said the city was honoured to be considered as a possible location. "We just offered and said if we can help, we certainly will," he said. "I go down to the earthquake memorial, and you see people there holding their hands on their loved one's name and remembering, so it's important, we know what it's like. "Two of the places that have been suggested are council land, we're more than happy to give that for the cause, it's up to the families or the Ministry for Culture and Heritage to decide where they want to put it." The ministry's senior officer responsible for the memorial, Glenis Philip-Barbara, told Morning Report families had been surveyed on preferred alternatives to Auckland. "Christchurch came up on top, and then, of course, we received the very generous offer from the mayor of Christchurch city to consider them," she said. "So we moved off to Christchurch to have a look and see what we could present to families." She acknowledged the wait for a memorial had been "excruciating" for families. "It has been a long journey and far more difficult than we ever anticipated. There are many Erebus families who just want us to get on and build a memorial." The site at Auckland's Takaparawhau was also being considered, she said.
Scoop
6 days ago
- General
- Scoop
Christchurch Sites Considered For Erebus Memorial Site
Three possible Christchurch locations for an Erebus memorial site have been shared with families. The sites will honour the 257 people who lost their lives in 1979 when Flight TE901 crashed into the slopes of Mt Erebus in Antarctica while on a sight-seeing tour. The government committed to building a National Erebus Memorial in 2017, with Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture and Heritage leading the project. A plan for a memorial in Auckland's Dove Meyer Robinson Park divided opinions with objectors claiming it would change the tone of the gardens, and it was ultimately abandoned in 2023 after cyclone damage and land instability meant it was no longer safe to build on the site. Culture and Heritage secretary Leauanae Laulu Mac Leauanae said the following three potential Christchurch sites had been shared with the Erebus families and members of the group Operation Overdue. Avon Riverbank in the central city Cracroft Reserve in Cashmere St James' Church grounds in Harewood The Ministry for Culture and Heritage is seeking feedback from the Erebus families on each of the sites and said no decisions had been made about locating the memorial in Christchurch, nor which of the potential sights may be selected. "We are grateful to Erebus families for their continued engagement. Sharing these potential sites is an important step and we will carefully consider their feedback. "We are committed to building this memorial - for the people who lost loved ones, for New Zealanders, and for those here and overseas impacted by the Erebus tragedy," Leauanae said in a statement. Christchurch Mayor Phil Mauger said the city was honoured to be considered as a possible location for the memorial. "As a city, we have experienced tragedy and understand the deep impact the Erebus disaster continues to have on people across Aotearoa," he said in a statement. "Christchurch is long connected to Antarctica, we feel a deep sense of responsibility to honour the lives of your loved ones with great care and quiet dignity."
Otago Daily Times
7 days ago
- General
- Otago Daily Times
Potential sites identified in Christchurch for National Erebus Memorial
A section of the fuselage of the Air New Zealand DC-10 which remained intact on the icy slopes of Mt Erebus. Photo: File image / Creative Commons Potential National Erebus Memorial sites in Christchurch have been shared with the families of the victims. Leauanae Laulu Mac Leauanae from the Ministry for Culture and Heritage said the sites have been identified as possible locations for the memorial. It would honour the 257 people who lost their lives in 1979 when Flight TE901 crashed into the slopes of Mt Erebus in Antarctica while on a sightseeing tour. "The potential sites we shared with Erebus families and members of Operation Overdue are Avon Riverbank in the central city, Cracroft Reserve in Cashmere and St James' Church grounds in Harewood," Leauanae said. No decisions have been made about locating the memorial in Christchurch or which of the potential sites may be selected. The ministry is currently seeking feedback from Erebus families on each of the potential sites. "We are grateful to Erebus families for their continued engagement. Sharing these potential sites is an important step and we will carefully consider their feedback. "We are committed to building this memorial - for the people who lost loved ones, for New Zealanders, and for those here and overseas impacted by the Erebus tragedy," says Leauanae. A rescue worker at the crash site of the Air New Zealand plane that hit Mount Erebus in Antarctica in 1979. Christchurch Mayor Phil Mauger said the city is honoured to be considered as a possible location for the memorial. "On behalf of Christchurch, I extend a warm invitation to Erebus families to consider the city as a potential location for the memorial," says Mayor Mauger. "As a city, we have experienced tragedy and understand the deep impact the Erebus disaster continues to have on people across Aotearoa. "Christchurch is long connected to Antarctica, we feel a deep sense of responsibility to honour the lives of your loved ones with great care and quiet dignity." Leauanae said the Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture and Heritage will continue to work closely with Erebus families, mana whenua and stakeholders to find a site for the memorial.
The Spinoff
10-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Spinoff
‘Nose stuck in a book' and other stubborn misconceptions around kids and reading
David Hill responds to the Ministry for Culture and Heritage's decision to deny funding support for New Zealand to be Guest of Honour at the 2027 Bologna Children's Book Fair. *Names have been changed for privacy reasons. My Uncle X was a huntin' and fishin' man. Every so often, he'd arrive at our back door, hand my mum a feathered or scaled carcass, say Nah, he wouldn't come in, thanks; had things to do, then drive off to kill something else. One time, he grew more vocal. I was about eight? 10? sitting at the end of the kitchen, head-deep in Biggles Flies East. Uncle X gazed at me; shook his head. 'Got y'nose stuck in a book again, eh?' Seldom have eight words carried such dismissal, such intimations of time-wasting, futility, and unmanliness. I never had a reply ready, of course. Nor did I realise that my uncle lives on – in the corridors of power. The Publishers' Association of New Zealand (PANZ) announced last month that it has withdrawn its commitment to be the 2027 Guest of Honour at the Bologna Children's Book Fair largely due to a lack of committed funding from the Ministry for Culture and Heritage. A summary of the decision was reported over on The Sapling. In that report, PANZ president Graeme Cosslett says: 'This withdrawal is more than a missed business opportunity, it's a loss of cultural presence. It denies our writers, illustrators, and publishers the chance to build global connections, especially in indigenous and bilingual storytelling. Without investment, we risk silencing New Zealand's voice on the world stage.' Our people in power don't see the world's biggest celebration of kids' books and kids' reading – one long-determined by those who actually know the publishing industry as the most fruitful for developing the sector – as deserving their financial support. The Sapling's report, in summary, shows that New Zealand is lagging in investment in our children's literature compared with other countries of a similar size. 'Children's stories are not luxuries,' wrote UK children's author Katherine Rundell. 'They are fundamental to our culture, to the grownups we become, the society we build.' Dear Ms Rundell, please apply for a government position down here. I've heard people other than my Uncle worry or disapprove of kids being 'stuck in a book'. The implication is that reading is somehow passive; that physical pastimes – like killing wildlife – are more healthy and beneficial. Passive? Rubbish. When you're reading, your brain is busy, busy, busy. Studies show that pulse, heart-rate, blood pressure are all affected, in positive ways. Neuroscientists have established that reading or being read to stimulates areas of the brain that no other activity seems to reach. (If you're over a certain age, you may remember a Guinness beer advertisement claiming the same thing.) Physical pastimes more beneficial? Still rubbish. Kids who read or are read to, meet words. Words empower. They do so partly in that they bring information. Yes, there's always the accompanying danger of mis- and disinformation; perhaps our Ministry for Culture and Heritage staff were fretting over that? But publishers, bookshops, teachers, parents, plus the built-in bullshit detector that so many young readers possess provide a good series of filters against this. I don't mean only the information that nonfiction usually provides, though reading Aotearoa books helps to build a national identity, not just through mentions of kiwi and pavlova and Taupo and Twizel, but through stories set in our suburbs or on our marae, with our voices and languages, our issues and aspirations, mistakes and triumphs. I mean also the information that fiction contains. Read novels, short stories, poems, plays, and you become informed about people. Your imagination is extended; you're taken into the minds of others and deep into your own. Stories develop sympathy, help children learn to interpret, understand, recognise. Look around, in and beyond Aotearoa and tell me those aren't essential skills in the 2020s. Reading and being read to gives children fresh perspectives, makes the world more comprehensible and manageable. ('Life says: 'she did this,'' Julian Barnes wrote. 'Stories say: 'she did this because …'') It develops self-reliance, too; helps form an inner core into which you can retire. E M Forster spoke of 'the measureless content' he felt whenever he began a Jane Austen novel. All readers know the stimulation, even transfiguration that a story can bring. Undoubtedly the MCH committee that decided against supporting our children's publishers, writers and illustrators took this into account when making their decision. I believe books offer such benefits more than TV or social media do. OK, television for children includes quality programmes. But even on the best TV, images and associations are pre-determined; the programme defines and therefore limits. Reading is far more interactive. Margaret Mahy got it dead right: 'The reader completes the book.' Then there's the silence and the depth that reading brings. When kids are reading, the world around them steps away: they become enveloped in quiet; go deep down into stillness and thought. In an age of visual and auditory distraction, that internal silence is such a precious experience. It's also an experience that develops a young reader's inner resources. As I said above, children who read develop skills of imagination and empathy. They experience nuances of feeling and behaviour, and by association, they can understand more of themselves. And they're never alone. We've all known that heart-filling, potentially transformative process of making friends with characters in the books we read; of wanting to be with – to be – Joy Cowley's Jonasi, Stacy Gregg's Titch, the wonderful Maurice Gee's Rachel and Theo. They're companions for life. I'm sure the splendid folk at MCH would want our young people to grow up surrounded by the very best of friends? A couple of tedious anecdotes. I've written elsewhere of the 20-something All Blacks supporter being interviewed some years back after New Zealand was yet again knocked out of the Rugby World Cup. He was almost in tears as the TV journalist asked that classically clunky question 'How do you feel?' 'Oh, mate,' the young sufferer replied. 'Words can't express how I feel, mate.' Well (mate), I remember thinking at the time, if you'd been encouraged to read more when you were a kid, you'd have more words to express those feelings, and to handle them better. 'Young David can talk his way out of anything,' my Uncle X grunted to Mum once. (I'm just realising what a literary debt I owe to the fellow.) He didn't mean it as a compliment, of course. But it was – partly – true, and the words, situations, and escapes I encountered in books helped me. I'll finish with Tyrone*. I met Tyrone in the distant decades when I was a high school teacher, and he was in my Form 5 / Year 11 / Level 1 NCEA / whatever label you prefer, English class. Tyrone was barely literate; I suspect he hadn't managed to read a book in his whole life. He was almost totally incapable of handling the simplest school project. In class, he swore at kids who offended him; swore at me as well; kicked desks and chairs over on really bad days. If he was rebuked, he was incapable of expressing or explaining himself, so he became frustrated, then aggressive, then violent. The school didn't want to suspend or expel him – his stepfather had already knocked out a couple of his teeth when he was suspended the previous year. For a week, I'd been reading a book to Form 5. It was Barry Hines' A Kestrel for a Knave (made into the film called Kes), with its yearning, hope-filled scenes with the lost, feral boy (yes, the parallel is obvious) from Northern England's slums, who tames and befriends a small hawk, till some form of happiness glints precariously on the horizon. On the day I'll always remember, I'd been reading to them for maybe 10–12 minutes, when I became aware that Tyrone was strangely silent. There were no desk-kickings, no ostentatious yawnings or sneerings. As I turned the page, I snuck a glance at him. He was sitting absolutely still, listening and sucking his thumb. I don't want to sentimentalise the episode, or romanticise Tyrone's own subsequent life. It was a course of violence, addiction, crime, prison (as happens to so many boys and men without words). Our government has just come up with the slogan: ' Kids in sport stay out of court '. Fair enough; so how about 'Kids who read books don't become crooks'? Certainly, my glimpse of that lost boy, briefly held and comforted by words and imagination isn't going to leave me. And just think: if a book set in a society half the planet away could have that effect, what might an Aotearoa story with such hope and friendship in it have done for Tyrone? So how dare – how dare – any government department or body imply by their actions (or lack of them in the case of the Bologna Children's Book Fair) that our children's books and our children who read them are anything less than vital to Aotearoa's future?
NZ Herald
12-05-2025
- General
- NZ Herald
Māori artist Fred Graham dies, New Zealand arts community pays tribute
'Uncle Fred was a gentleman, a happy-go-lucky kind of person. 'He was an example for the young ones... not just in the art world... His mantra was 'whatever you set your mind to, you can be successful in'.' Papa said while Graham had now passed on to the realm of night, his art was his biggest legacy and would last for generations to come. Papa said numerous people from all over New Zealand, including artist Kura Te Waru Rewiri, and others from Wellington, Palmerston North and the Bay of Plenty, had already come to Pōhara Marae near Cambridge to pay their respects. The Ministry for Culture and Heritage said on social media Graham was a 'formidable presence' in Aotearoa New Zealand's art scene. 'Graham's legacy in Māori art will be remembered in the story of New Zealand for years to come.' Creative New Zealand said they acknowledged the passing of a 'larger than life artist, mentor, and trailblazer in the world of Māori arts'. 'A master carver, sculptor, and educator, his contributions have profoundly shaped the landscape of Aotearoa's artistic identity and elevated the presence and prestige of Māori art nationally and internationally,' the statement reads. 'His legacy is one of integrity, innovation, and deep cultural grounding.' Te Whare Taonga o Waikato Museum & Gallery Museum & Arts director Liz Cotton said Graham was 'a true pioneer'. 'He will be greatly missed both as an artist and as a mentor who generously shared his maatauranga with younger generations,' Cotton said. 'Matua Fred's legacy will continue to be felt across the motu and here at the Museum. As visitors enter our foyer, they are welcomed by his beautiful sculpture 'Keriana' which was carved in 1984 and represents a bird that shelters the young under her wing. 'Also, the beloved centrepiece of our marae aatea is the bold and symbolic waharoa 'Te Mauri o Te Iwi'. 'Moe mai raa e te Rangatira.' Graham represented New Zealand at many international exhibitions throughout his career, including the 1986 Te Ao Marama (Seven Māori Artists) exhibition that toured Australia and a 1992 United States tour showcasing contemporary Māori art. In 2017 he received the Creative New Zealand Te Waka Toi supreme award for his lifetime of service to the advancement of Māori art and cultural leadership. More recently he exhibited at the Venice Biennale, where several of his paintings and sculptures shared a gallery space with the work of his son, Brett Graham. In 1955, Graham was selected as a Māori All Black, and played three games. Graham was also a teacher, starting his career in Northland, before moving to Toihoukura in Gisborne and Papakura High School where he was head of art in the 1960s and 70s. At PHS, he coached the First XV to win the Moascar Cup in 1970. In the 2025 New Year Honours, he was made a companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his services to Māori art. In 2018, he was made an officer of the NZ Order of Merit. Graham has produced sculptures that are displayed in many New Zealand cities and towns as well as international galleries. His recent work includes the sculpture 'Waka Maumahara' located between the four-lane Hamilton section and the SH1C offramp and 'Te Manu Rangimaarie' (bird of peace) at the Piarere roundabout just north of Tīrau. Other work is in the courtyard of the High Court at Auckland (Justice), on the wall outside Auckland Art Gallery (Te Waka Toi o Tamaki) and in the Auckland Domain (Kaitiaki). Graham was preparing for the opening of the exhibition 'Fred Graham: Toi Whakaata / Reflections' at Christchurch Art Gallery. His nephew Papa said it was still to be confirmed if it would go ahead. Graham previously lived in Waiuku. He was the beloved husband of the late Norma and leaves behind his children Gary, Paula, Kathryn, Brett and Kara, and nine grandchildren. His funeral service will be held in Ngāruawāhia at the Chapel at Hopuhopu Sports Grounds (451 Old Taupiri Rd), which Graham designed together with Norma, at 11am tomorrow. Papa said anyone who would like to farewell Graham was welcome.
