Auckland floods: Large slip threatens planned Erebus Memorial at ...

The Erebus memorial planned for Auckland’s Dove-Myer Robinson Park could fall victim to Friday’s torrential rain event.

A large slip in the lower part of the park into Judges Bay caused by the rain has raised concerns about cantilevering the concrete and steel structure over the park.

Auckland Council head of area operations Julie Pickering said the implications for the Erebus Memorial will not be known until the council has the chance to assess the site and discuss it with the Ministry of Culture and Heritage.

The slip has already led the council to fence off a pathway close to the edge of the slip.

“We are seeing slips around the Parnell area and the council is working hard to ensure public safety,” Pickering said.

One opponent of the Erebus Memorial, Jo Malcolm, yesterday emailed mayor Wayne Brown, council chief executive Jim Stabback, several councillors, and Waitematā Local Board members expressing her concerns about the slip “directly underneath the proposed memorial”.

“It is a dangerous large slip and the land above it remains unstable and waterlogged,” Malcolm said.

She said residents have been trying to tell the council for nearly four years that the cliff face is unstable.

“We have challenged and questioned the cantilevering of 132 tonnes of concrete and steel over this fragile cliff face. We have been ignored by the Ministry for Culture and Heritage but also Auckland Council,” Malcolm said.

The memorial has a chequered and controversial background, causing division among locals and families of the victims of the country’s largest peacetime loss of life when an Air New Zealand scenic flight over Antarctica in 1979 crashed into the side of Mt Erebus, killing all 257 people on board.

The planned national memorial has stalled following protests, concerns over a large neighbouring pōhutukawa, and claims the tone of the gardens will change.

That is despite former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern renewing her commitment to delivering a national memorial for the Erebus families.