On 24 May 1947 a bus taking members and supporters of the Nūhaka Women’s Hockey Club to a tournament at Wairoa collided with a truck. One side of the bus was torn off by the impact. Five women were killed and eight injured in the accident; one of the injured, Mere Mita, later died in hospital
A memorial to the deceased was unveiled on 22 February 1949. It is a concrete and granite obelisk which stands alongside the Ihaka Whaanga NZ Wars memorial in front of Te Kotahitanga hall on Ngātirangi Road, Nūhaka. The English inscription reads simply: IN LOVING MEMORY OF / THOSE WHO DIED / UNDER TRAGIC CIRCUMSTANCES / ON THE 24TH MAY 1947. / HINE CAMPBELL / SOPHIE MITA / OKEROA RANGI / MERE T. MITA / DAISY HOWARD / BRENDA CAREY / “I AM THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE”.
See: ‘Five Killed: Women on Bus’, NZ Herald, 26/5/1947, p. 6; ‘Nuhaka Branch’, Te Karere [NZ Mission of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints] , July 1947, p. 221; 'Nuhaka Memorial to Bus Accident Victims Unveiled', Gisborne Herald, 26/2/1948, p. 3.
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