Media release

28 May 2012

Headstones to return to Kioreroa

Fragments of gravestones incorporated into a seawall on the Onerahi foreshore in the middle of last century are to be returned to Kioreroa Cemetery on Tuesday 5 June.

Council was informed during development of a new memorial at Kioreroa Cemetery (on State Highway One at Otaika) that headstones missing from Kioreroa and Mission Ground cemeteries in the central city had been used as fill when the seawall was being developed in the 1960s.

Investigations during planned improvements to the seawall subsequently revealed that broken concrete mounts and fragments of polished headstones were at the site and the area was blessed by kaumatua at the time.

Council’s roading department looks after the wall which helps to ensure the soundness of the road around the headland, and has been seeking permission to remove the stones since they were located.

Restoring the sea wall has required resource consent because the wall is in the coastal marine area, and removing the headstone fragments has required permission from the Historic Places Trust because the head stones are historical artefacts.

Permission to go ahead has recently been obtained, and a ceremony to bless the area before work begins along with a ceremony to mark the stones’ arrival at Kioreroa is planned for 5 June.

At Kioreroa Cemetery the pieces of headstone will be laid on the ledges of the new memorial and the broken mounts will be used as a foundation for a new sign for the cemetery.

The sign will be engraved on slabs of macrocarpa milled when trees were felled at the cemetery

“It closes the circle of events to a degree,” said Council’s Cemeteries and Conservatory Manager Helen Cairns.

“The destruction happened before many of us were born, but many families still have strong historical ties to the cemetery and were very hurt by what happened, so I hope they will be comforted in some way by these efforts to restore some dignity,” said Miss Cairns.

“It has also been important to address the concern that these stones from a tapu area have been left in the sea, in an area that people move through regularly, and I hope this work will resolve that issue as much as possible too.”

ends

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