Erebus memorial row heats up
Petition launched against chosen site in Parnell park and opponents say city’s oldest pohutukawa threatened
Controversy over a national Erebus memorial timed for the 40th anniversary of the air disaster is hotting up with a petition against its placement in a Parnell park and claims it will endanger what is thought to be Auckland’s oldest pohutukawa tree.
About 80 people were at an Auckland Council drop-in session at Dove Myer Robinson Park, also known as the Parnell Rose Gardens, overlooking Judges Bay, last weekend.
The session was hastily arranged after a handful of locals complained about consultation at a meeting of the Waitemata Local Board, the body responsible for giving landowner consent.
Parnell residents Jo Malcolm and Anne Coney have started a petition, Save the Dove Myer-Robinson Lawn, which yesterday afternoon had 270 signatures.
Malcolm’s father-in-law, Alan Stokes, was among 257 on board when sightseeing flight TE901 crashed into Mt Erebus in Antarctica. There were no survivors.
Independent local board member Rob Thomas told the Herald the plans used at Saturday’s public consultation were significantly different to those put forward for resource consent. The public saw plans showing excavations skirting the drip line of the pohutukawa whereas “the new design by the [Ministry of Culture and Heritage] now shows plans to excavate into the roots of the pohutukawa tree, cut into the canopy and create concrete foundations that will prevent the roots from further developing”. Thomas said he understood consent was being sought to excavate 2.5m under the tree canopy whereas information given to the public and board was that it would be between 10cm and 30cm.
The plans shown to the public also did not show lighting, internal and external spotlights and what Thomas described as “a large beaming light” to go underneath the structure.
“I understand it is now version eight. It shows the design has not been finalised [and] yet they are rushing to get the approval through. It’s a rush job.”
He said the local board, the council and the public had been misled.
The ministry, which is overseeing the memorial project, last November selected Dove-Myer Robinson Park as its preferred site from a shortlist of five put forward by the Council.
In the same month, the Waitemata Local Board, as landowner, gave approval in principle for the memorial, to go on a grassed area in the northwest corner of the park.
Final consent was to be considered when the design was finalised.
The ministry’s Erebus Memorial Project lead, Brodie Stubbs, confirmed an earlier set of plans were used at the community consultation but said changes were “minor refinements . . . a normal part of the architectural design process” and did not impact on its scale or location.
Stubbs said the memorial poses no risk to the pohutukawa tree.
“The memorial wall extends 1m into the dripline of the tree. The wall footings in this area have been expressly designed so they will not impact on the roots of the tree and will not impede future growth.”
Last month, at its final meeting before local body elections, the board moved to consider under urgency the final landowner approval.
But it was deferred to allow “targeted consultation” after concerns raised by members of the public about consultation, design and the impact on the pohutukawa tree.
The board voted 6-1 in favour of a final decision about consent to be made by board chairwoman Pippa Coome and deputy Shale Chambers, both City Vision, before the end of their term on October 30.
Thomas had moved to defer a decision until after the election but did not get a seconder.
The memorial is supported by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Auckland mayor Phil Goff and a ceremony is planned on November 28, exactly 40 years after the crash, to mark the project’s start.
Katherine Carter, one of two Erebus family representatives on the design selection panel, has said what struck her most about the chosen design was “the idea of the sky and the journey into the sky”.
She said it was a lovely idea that reflected a sense of adventure.
Locals Elsbeth Hardie and Hugh Morrison support the memorial and location.
Hardie said the site was well away from the most popular picnicking spots in the park.
Morrison said the memorial would be “a wonderful addition to that place . . . a beautiful commemorative place of reflection for all New Zealanders”.
The Auckland Council is taking public submissions until October 8.