Call for wider consultation on memorial for patients' unmarked graves

A memorial is being set up to recognise the more than 1800 former patients of Porirua Hospital who were buried in unmarked graves.

Porirua City Council is creating the memorial and Pacific leaders want to be meaningfully involved in the process, by incorporating prayer, language and ceremonial practices.

More than 50 people gathered at Porirua Cemetery in June, after the council's plans became public, many of whom were descendants of those buried without headstones.

Porirua cemeteries manager Daniel Chrisp was encouraged to see families engaging with the project.

Chrisp's team placed 99 pegs to mark the graves of families who had come forward so far and he said one attendee told him it was deeply moving to photograph the site where two relatives were buried.

"It's fantastic that we've got to this point, having the descendants of those in unmarked graves encouraged to be involved," Chrisp said. "These plots represent mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, children and other relatives, so it's important to a lot of people."

Porirua City Council looks to find family of 1800 people in unmarked graves

The Porirua Lunatic Asylum, which later became Porirua Hospital, operated from 1887 until the 1990s. At its peak in the 1960s, it was one of Aotearoa New Zealand's largest hospitals, housing more than 2000 patients and staff.

As part of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care, the government established a national fund for headstones for unmarked graves.

Porirua City Council applied for $200,000 to install a memorial that would list every known name.

Criticism over lack of Pacific consultation

However, some Pacific community leaders say they were never consulted, despite Pacific people being among the deceased.

Porirua Cook Islands Association chairperson Teurukura Tia Kekena said this was the first she had heard of the project and was concerned Pacific communities had not been included in conversations so far.

"If there was any unmarked grave and the Porirua City Council is aware of the names, I would have thought they would have contacted the ethnic groups these people belonged to," she says.

"From a Cook Islands point of view, we need to acknowledge these people. They need to be fully acknowledged."

Kekena learned about the project only after being contacted by a reporter, despite the council's ongoing efforts to identify names and place markers for families who had come forward.

The council's application for funding was part of its response to the Royal Commission of Inquiry.

$2 million to honour unmarked graves of state children

Kekena said it was important how the council managed the memorial, adding that it mattered deeply for Cook Islands families and the wider Pacific community, especially those with relatives buried at the site.

She believed a proper memorial should reflect Pacific values, particularly the importance of faith, family and cultural protocol.

"It's huge," she said. "It's connecting us to these people - just thinking about it is getting me emotional.

"Like I said, the Pākehā way of acknowledging is totally different from our way. When we acknowledge, when we go for an unveiling, it's about family.

"It's about family. It's about family honouring the person that had passed and we do it in a way that we have a service at the graveside with the orometua [minister] present.

"Yeah, unveil the stone by the family, by the immediate family, if there were any here at that time."

She also underscored the connection between remembering the deceased and healing intergenerational trauma, particularly given the site's history with mental health.

"It helps a lot, it's a way of healing the trauma. I don't know how these people came to be buried in an unmarked grave, but to me, it's like they were just put there and forgotten about.

"I wouldn't like to have my family buried in a place and be forgotten."

Kekena urged the council to work closely with the Cook Islands community moving forward, and said she would bring the matter back to her association to raise awareness and check possible connections between local families and the names identified.

Yvonne Underhill‑Sem, a Cook Islands community leader and professor of Pacific studies at the University of Auckland, said the memorial had emotional significance, noting her personal connection as a Porirua native to Whenua Tapu, another Porirua cemetery.

"In terms of our Pacific understandings of ancestry, everybody who passes away is still part of our whānau," she said. "The fact that we don't know who they are is unsettling.

"It would be a real relief to the families involved and to the generations that follow to have those graves named."

Council response

A Porirua City Council spokesperson said they had actively shared the list of names with the public and encouraging all communities, including Pacific groups, genealogists and local iwi, to help spread the word.

So far, 99 families had come forward.

"We would encourage any networks, such as Pacific, genealogists and local iwi, to share the list around for members of the public to get in touch," the spokesperson said.

The list of names is available on the council's website and includes both a downloadable file and a searchable online tool.

Porirua City Councillors Izzy Ford and Moze Galo - two of the three Pacific members on the council - said Pacific families must be central to the memorial process.

Ford said burial sites carried deep cultural weight for Pacific communities.

"We know that burial sites are more than just places of rest,"Ford said. "They are sacred spaces that hold our stories, our ancestry and dignity - they are our connection to those who came before us."

Public notices and websites were not enough, she said.

"If we are serious about finding the families of those buried in unmarked graves here in Porirua, we have to go beyond public notices and websites."

Government funding would be limited and council must work with trusted Pacific networks to reach families, Ford said.

"It means partnering with groups who carry trust in our community... Pacific churches, elders and organisations communicating in our languages through Pacific radio, social media, community events, churches and health providers."

Galo agreed, and said the memorial must reflect Pacific values in both design and feeling.

"It should feel warm, colourful, spiritual and welcoming," he said. "Include Pacific designs, carvings and symbols... there should be room for prayer, music and quiet reflection.

"Being seen and heard brings healing, honour, and helps restore our connection to our ancestors. It reminds our families that we belong, that our history matters and that our voice is valued in this space."

Galo said the work must continue beyond the unveiling.

"Community involvement shouldn't stop after the memorial is built. We should have a role in how it's maintained and used in the future.

"These were real people with families, love and lives that mattered. Some were buried without names, without ceremony and that left a deep pain.

"Honouring them now is a step toward healing and a way of saying, 'You were never forgotten'."

Members of the public who recognise a family name on the list are encouraged to get in touch, by emailing cemeteries@poriruacity.govt.nz.

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.