A memorial will be built to recognise those lying in unmarked Pukekohe Cemetery graves, many of them Māori babies.
The Pukekohe Cemetery Committee has been established by Franklin Local Board and Ngā Hau e Whā Marae representatives to provide guidance around the memorial and to engage with the community.
Makere Rika-Heke will chair the committee, with Harley Wade as deputy. Tini Astle, Phyliss Bhana, Tearepa Kahi, Sonny Parata and Pare Rauwhero join Franklin Local Board chair Angela Fulljames and member Logan Soole on the committee, with board deputy chair Alan Cole as alternate.
Rika-Heke says it’s important work begin by acknowledging what has already been done by so many others to sustain the calls for a memorial.
“A lot of work is still to be done, and we are all aware of the significance of the project to iwi mana whenua, and to other communities who have whānau resting here,” she says.
“Many of the graves are the resting place of people with family who are with us today. They have endured a lifetime of hurt, knowing whānau rest unrecognised. That is a situation that must be rectified and acknowledged.”
Fulljames says the decision comes out of calls for recognition of the graves in the wake of the publication of Dr Robert Bartholomew’s 2020 book No Māori Allowed, which detailed historic racism in Pukekohe, and the subsequent Reikura Kahi documentary of the same name, featuring Phyliss Bhana and Pare Rauwhero, available on TVNZ online.
“The fact the graves remain overlooked when their presence has always been known, must be addressed with the families involve,” she adds.
“It is an ongoing source of pain that people have their loved ones unrecognised. We have the will and means to correct that. Anybody who has ever visited the grave of a loved one, placed a flower, talked or shed a tear, will understand how important a place to grieve is.”
Pukekohe Cemetery is inactive and is managed by the board as a local reserve.
Council has been approached before about the lack of acknowledgement for unmarked graves at the cemetery but now $200,000 has been budgeted for engagement, design, engineering and consenting (stage 1), and $500,000 for construction (stage 2).
The committee has decision-making responsibility over the memorial, can invite input from specialists and experts, and will be steered by the tikanga of its Māori members (Tainui).
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