$3m for Erebus memorial plan

The Government has agreed to spend $3 million on a memorial for the victims of the Erebus plane crash, but has still to announce where it will be located.

The memorial will remember the 257 passengers and crew who died when an Air New Zealand DC-10 crashed into the lower slopes of Mt Erebus in Antarctica at 12.49pm (NZ time) on November 28, 1979.

The $3m funding was approved by Cabinet on Monday, and the Ministry for Culture and Heritage has called for expressions of interest from designers, architects, artists, and landscape architects.

While it had been hoped the memorial might have been ready by the 40th anniversary of the tragedy, the ministry said in July the amount of work involved meant it would not be dedicated until the first half of 2020.

Rev Dr Richard Waugh, of the Erebus National Memorial group, said he commended the continuing progress on the project.

Manatu¯ Taonga Ministry for Culture and Heritage memorials and taonga manager Brodie Stubbs said the aim was to have the memorial completed by May 2020.