KA 949 Tangiwai Memorial - Central Plateau, NZ
S 39° 27.955 E 175° 34.570
60H E 377518 N 5630550
The Tangiwai Disaster, the worst railway accident in New Zealand's history, occurred on Christmas Eve 1953, at a location just west of Tangiwai, 8km west of Waiouru.
NOTE: Only genuine visits to this memorial will be accepted.
Waymark Code: WM3J7D
Location: New Zealand
Date Posted: 04/10/2008
Views: 63
At 10.15pm a lahar, caused by the collapse of the walls containing the crater-lake on Mt Ruapehu, reached Tangiwai in the form of a dense wave of water, sand and boulders, and it washed away the rail-bridge over the river. Five minutes later, when the Wellington-to-Auckland Express train attempted to cross the bridge, its locomotive and six front carriages were plunged into the flooded Whangaehu River. The lives of 151 people were lost as a result.
On 31 December 1953 a ceremony was held to inter the unidentified victims in the Karori Cemetery. A year after the disaster, the Wellington-to-Auckland express dropped a wreath into the Whangaehu River from the new railway bridge in memory of those who had died. It was the first act to commemorate the disaster and has since become a tradition. Four years later, the official memorial of the disaster, paid for by the Government, was unveiled at the Karori Cemetery.
On the tenth anniversary of the disaster a memorial ceremony, attended by more than 300 people, was held at Tangiwai. A small white cross was erected at the site for the occasion. In response to the need for a permanent focal point for grief, the Tangiwai Memorial obelisk was erected in place of the cross in 1989. The obelisk was designed by the New Zealand Master Monumental Masons Association Inc and erected by Anderson Memorials, Wanganui. More than 200 people attended the unveiling ceremony. In 1994 the site of the disaster, 1.7130 hectares of land covered in toitoi, lupin and flax and adjacent to the Whangaehu River, was declared an historic reserve.
On the 50th anniversary of the disaster a small ceremony attended by approximately 40 people was held at the National Tangiwai Memorial in Wellington. The main ceremony was held at the site of the disaster, at Tangiwai, where the obelisk was unveiled for a second time following the addition of two new inscriptions. Approximately 1000 people, including the Governor-General and the Prime Minister, attended the ceremony.
The Tangiwai site, with its proximity to the actual disaster site, remains the most important focus for New Zealanders of the country's worst railway disaster. It is historically important as the site of the disaster, and has social value as an essential reference point for commemoration ceremonies for those who died. The place is imbued with the spirit of the accident and provides a powerful experiential connection between past and present.
Please Note: This important Memorial deserves a genuine stop-off visit. At least take the time to read the memorial and look at the information panels. A glimpse from the speeding train in the distance does not constitute a visit and those logs will be deleted.