Relocating our Memorial Grove

Wednesday 10 November 2021

He aha te mea nui o te ao? He tangata he tangata he tangata. Te kanohi kitea ka hoki ngaa mahara ka heke ngaa Roimata. Ka mihi taatou ki te Maumahara Grove

What is the most precious taonga in the world? It is people, it is people.
The treasured memoirs of all the rangatira gathered in the memorial grove.

Stirs up the treasured memories of our loved ones, gone but not forgotten. The fountain of tears that conveys our korowai of aroha. We salute and acknowledge our treasured valours and special family and dear friends. We acknowledge Te Whare Wānanga o Wairaka for the kaitiakitanga and manaakitanga. We welcome the new residential resting place of the illustrious “Memorial Grove”. Tihei Mauri Ora

Tēnā koutou katoa

A new home for our Memorial Grove

The Memorial Grove site on our Mt Albert campus forms part of our land sale to the Ministry of Housing and Development (MHUD), so it will be handed over in the coming months. We’re aware of the significance of this space and over the past few months, in collaboration with stakeholders across Unitec, we have chosen a new space to establish our memorial of past staff and ākonga.

What is the Memorial Grove?

The Memorial Grove was set up in 1990 to remember staff and learners who have passed away. Approximately 20 trees, with accompanying memorial stones or plaques, are planted across the site near Building 48. Whānau, staff and learners have visited this beautiful place to wander amongst the trees and remember their loved ones.

The existing Memorial Grove

A new home for the Memorial Grove

With the latest land sale agreement, Unitec will be required to hand the Memorial Grove site over to MHUD. A team including Matua Hare Paniora, Chaplain Ricky Waters, Kaitiaki Taiao Whaea Tanya White and Head of Environmental and Animal Sciences, Dan Blanchon, has worked to identify an appropriate new site.

The new site for our Memorial Grove

The new Memorial Grove will be established next to the Gate 4 carpark, which provides a grass area where trees and memorial stones can be moved to and new trees planted.

Whaea Lynda, Matua Hare and Matua Vince performing a karakia ceremony

We would like to acknowledge Matua Hare Paniora, Whaea Lynda Toki and Matua Vince Hapi who performed a karakia ceremony last Thursday at the new site to support the preparations or site works that may need to take place in the transition process, and to prepare the whenua for future planting.

The forested area adjacent to the new space will also offer our Environmental and Animal Sciences School another outdoor teaching laboratory area where our ākonga can learn about planting and native forest regeneration.

Contacting whānau

It’s important that we let whānau know about the relocation of our Memorial Grove. Our Chaplain Ricky Waters is in the process of contacting the family members of our ākonga and kaimahi who are honoured in the Grove. In some cases, our contact details of the whānau are out of date, so if you have details of staff, students, or families who have connections to any of the memorials (see the list below this message), please contact Ricky Waters.

Whānau will be invited join our karakia to farewell the old site. They will have the choice of taking their whānau member’s memorial stone with them, picking an existing tree in the new Memorial Grove space, planting a new tree, or transplanting the existing tree to a new home. This preparation mahi will take place over the next two months.

I appreciate the ongoing efforts and support from Ricky Waters, Whaea Tanya White, Matua Hare Paniora, Dan Blanchon, Jaala Jacobs, Andrew Happy, Untaka Cai, Jason Cocker and Bill Dobbin, as we have worked on the relocation of the Memorial Grove to its new home. It is an important kaupapa and I’ve been thankful that such a collaborative, considerate group has given this mahi the respect it deserves.

I will keep you updated as we work towards opening our new Memorial Grove.

Ngā mihi

Michelle Teirney
DCE – Operations

Memorials - seeking information on the whānau of these past staff and students

Andries Jacobus du Plessis 2017
Beth O'Leary 2014
Dayla Rahman 2008
Deborah Faaiuaso 2018
Fran Baker 2009
Frances Claire Tait 2016
Jackie Arbury 2013
Klaus Buhr 2014
Maina Wearne-Jones 1997
Marara Waters 2011
Naomi Firebrace 2009
Priscilla June Taylor 2018
Sara-Jane Sadler 2009
Tomasi Lepa 2001
Tony Ashton 2008
Michele Spijkerbosch 2018
Shaun Holme 2005
Ravi Bhat 2018
Bradley Cameron 2009
Ken Newlands 2021