{"id":348234,"date":"2026-03-26T04:31:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T04:31:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/348234\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T04:31:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T04:31:10","slug":"memorial-design-revealed-for-hundreds-of-unmarked-graves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/348234\/","title":{"rendered":"Memorial design revealed for hundreds of unmarked graves"},"content":{"rendered":"

Plans for a memorial plaque on a rural Auckland cemetery to honour hundreds of unmarked graves \u2013 many of whom were M\u0101ori babies \u2013 are underway after a design concept was approved.<\/p>\n

By Torika Tokalau for Local Democracy Reporting<\/p>\n

The 200 unmarked graves at Pukekohe Cemetery \u2013 dating from between the 1920s and 1960s \u2013 have long been a source of pain to many in the rural south Auckland community.<\/p>\n

The decision to build a memorial<\/a> came in the wake of the publication of Dr Robert Bartholomew’s 2020 book No M\u0101ori Allowed, which detailed historic racism in Pukekohe, and the subsequent Reikura Kahi documentary of the same name.<\/p>\n

The documentary revealed M\u0101ori were barred from public toilets, segregated at the cinema and swimming baths, forced to stand for white bus passengers and barred from schools from 1920 until the early 1960s.<\/p>\n

Children, who died from measles, diphtheria, whooping cough and tuberculosis, were buried in unmarked graves.<\/p>\n

The project is led by the Pukekohe Cemetery Committee and supported by the Franklin Local Board.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, the committee approved a concept design, designed by Kohae Limited, a M\u0101ori-led design practice, to be put through a public consultation in April.<\/p>\n

\"<\/p>\n

An artists impression of a memorial at the Pukekohe Cemetery, to honour the unmarked graves on site. (Source: Local Democracy Reporting)<\/p>\n

Kohae architect Alistair Toto (Ngati Tamaoho) said it was a heavy kaupapa<\/a> to be involved in, given the history behind the unmarked graves.<\/p>\n

He grew up in Pukekohe North and had whakapapa to some buried there.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a lot of responsibility, its not a thing you take lightly. There\u2019s a lot of expectation and responsibility to advance the kaupapa towards a positive outcome,\u201d Toto said.<\/p>\n

The design aimed to acknowledge those buried in unmarked graves, while respecting the whenua and existing burial areas within the cemetery.<\/p>\n

The designs incorporated natural elements, planting and passive design principles that responded to the landscape and provided shade and a contemplative space for remembrance.<\/p>\n

It included a sculptural wall and an area of seating for reflection and connection.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is something that people are going to see, a physical, tangible manifestation of a lot of events, feelings and emotions.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said a lot of work had already been done by the committee, with the families of those involved, and what they wanted for the memorial.<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir thoughts and wishes were pretty clear, the immediate priority was acknowledging those that are buried there, in a way that manifests their presence, it gives them some dignity of where they are laying now.\u201d<\/p>\n

The design will go for a four-week public consultation before the final design is approved in the middle of the year.<\/p>\n

The memorial project is funded through council\u2019s regional M\u0101ori Outcomes Fund, with $500,000 earmarked for construction.<\/p>\n

\u2013 LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Plans for a memorial plaque on a rural Auckland cemetery to honour hundreds of unmarked graves \u2013 many…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":348235,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[51,156,111,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-348234","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-auckland","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-newzealand","12":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=348234"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348234\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/348235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=348234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=348234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=348234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}