Frank Kitts Park on the Wellington waterfront is home to a number of military and maritime memorials. The most prominent is one of Wellington's four memorials to the Wahine disaster. This is flanked by a memorial wall displaying at least 20 other commemorative plaques.
The park, originally called Marine Park, was formed in 1976. In May 1979 Wellington City Council renamed it Frank Kitts Park, in honour of the late Sir Frank Kitts, mayor of Wellington from 1956 to 1974 and long-serving member of the Wellington Harbour Board. Frank Kitts Park was redeveloped in 1990 (a sundial commemorates its formal reopening on 20 August 1990). During the redevelopment the mainmast of the interisland ferry TEV Wahine was erected on a plinth on the park's seaward side. The accompanying plaque reads:
LAMBTON HARBOUR DEVELOPMENT PROJECT / [graphic] / / Wahine Mast / / THIS MAST IS FROM THE INTERISLAND FERRY TEV Wahine / WHICH FOUNDERED AT THE ENTRANCE TO WELLINGTON / HARBOUR ON 10 APRIL 1968 WITH THE LOSS OF 51 / LIVES. / THE 8,944 TON VESSEL, OWNED BY THE UNION STEAM SHIP / COMPANY OF NEW ZEALAND LTD, WAS LAUNCHED ON / 14 JULY 1965 AND PROVIDED A PASSENGER AND / VEHICULAR FERRY SERVICE BETWEEN WELLINGTON AND / LYTTLETON. / THE MAST HAS BEEN RESTORED AND ERECTED WITH / ASSISTANCE FROM THE FOLLOWING: / SIR LEN SOUTHWARD / WELLINGTON MARITIME MUSEUM TRUST / UNION SHIPPING GROUP LIMITED / / AUGUST 1990."
On the 40th anniversary of the disaster a plaque thanking the rescuers was also unveiled: "WAHINE / On 10 April 1968 the Wahine foundered in Wellington Harbour. / Tragically 51 people lost their lives. / Hundreds survived due to the efforts of a large rescue mission. / This plaque is dedicated to all those who assisted in that rescue. / You saved us from disaster and took us to a safe place. / Thank you / The survivors / This plaque was placed 10 April 2008 / to commemorate the 40th anniversary."
The Wahine memorial thus pays tribute to civilian heroism. Several of the plaques on the adjoining memorial wall instead have a military significance. In March 2000 two plaques from the US Marine Corps memorial, originally erected on Aotea Quay, were re-sited in Frank Kitts Park. They read respectively: "THE / UNITED STATES / MARINE CORPS / ARRIVED AT THIS / QUAY IN MAY 1942 / AND LEFT FROM / HERE TO SERVE / IN THE PACIFIC / THEATRE OF WAR", and: "TO THE PEOPLE OF / NEW ZEALAND / 'IF YOU EVER NEED A FRIEND / YOU HAVE ONE' / THE SECOND MARINE DIVISION / ASSOCIATION OF UNITED STATES / OF AMERICA / 1951."
Other plaques relating to the Second World War which have been placed nearby include one dedicated to the fallen soldiers of the 25 Infantry Battalion, which was formed at Trentham Military Camp in 1940 and saw service in Greece, North Africa and Italy ("1939 - 1945 / Dedicated to the memory of / members of / 25 INFANTRY BATTALION / 2 N.Z.E.F. / Who died in the service of their country, especially / those to whom the fortunes of war denied a known / and honoured grave. / At the going down of the Sun / And in the morning / WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.")
There is also an Arctic Convoys plaque ("IN MEMORY / OF ALL NEW ZEALANDERS / WHO PARTICIPATED IN THE ARCTIC / CONVOYS TO AND FROM RUSSIA IN / WORLD WAR II 1941-1945 / This plaque was unveiled on 9 May 2005 by Her Worship Kerry L. Prendergast. / Initiated by the Embassy of the Russian Federation in New Zealand, the Honorary Consulate of the Russian Federation in Auckland, Wellington City Council, the / Russian Convoy Club and the Royal New Zealand Returned and Services Association.")
And a merchant seamens' plaque ("IN HONOUR / DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF 33,730 BRITISH AND COMMONWEALTH / MERCHANT SEAMEN WHO LOST THEIR LIVES AS A RESULT OF ENEMY / ACTION DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR. / SEPTEMBER 1939 TO AUGUST 1945 / WE WILL REMEMBER THEM").
A plaque erected to mark the 150th anniversary of the Shaw Savill Line similarly acknowledges, "all sea and shore staff who served the Company particularly those lost whilst maintaining shipping services in times of war and peace."
Other memorials recall other wars. A Korean War plaque was unveiled in 2000 ("NEW ZEALAND UNITED NATIONS SERVICE / REPUBLIC OF KOREA 1950-1957 / THIS PLAQUE COMMEMORATES NEW ZEALAND'S MILITARY COMMITMENT TO / THE DEFENCE OF THE PRINCIPLES OF THE CHARTER OF THE UNITED NATIONS, IN / PROVIDING ARMED FORCES TO THAT INTERNATIONAL BODY, TO REPEL AGGRESSION / FROM THE NORTH, 25 JUNE 1950. / OVER 1350 ROYAL NZ NAVY PERSONNEL SERVED BETWEEN JULY 1950 - JUNE 1956, / 4720 NZ ARMY EMERGENCY FORCE PERSONNEL OF 'KAYFORCE' BETWEEN AUGUST / 1950 - AUGUST 1957 AND 2 ROYAL NZ AIR FORCE PERSONNEL IN 1953. / 45 GAVE THEIR LIVES, 81 WERE WOUNDED / SERVICE TO THE UNITED NATIONS IS HEREBY RECORDED. / [insignia] / NEW ZEALAND KOREA VETERANS ASSOCIATION 2000 / LEST WE FORGET").
New Zealand's only Spanish Civil War memorial plaque was also unveiled here in June 2011 ("IN GRATEFUL MEMORY OF ALL NEW ZEALANDERS / WHO CONTRIBUTED TO THE DEFENCE OF FREEDOM / DURING THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR (1936-1939) / 'FOR SPAIN AND HUMANITY' / - / EN RECUERDO Y AGRADECIMIENTO A TODOS LOS NEOZELANDESES / QUE CONTRIBUYERON A LA DEFENSA DE LA LIBERTAD DURANTE / LA GUERRA CIVIL ESPAÑOLA (1936-1939) / 'POR ESPAÑA Y POR LA HUMANIDAD' / / EMBASSY OF SPAIN / TO NEW ZEALAND || [coat of arms] || EMBAJADA DE ESPAÑA / EN NUEVA ZELANDA."
Two plaques relate to the Malayan Emergency. One records the departure of the Second Battalion New Zealand Regiment from Wellington in 1957 (" FIRST BATTALION NEW ZEALAND / REGIMENT (1957 - 1959) ASSOCIATION / [regimental badge] / KURA - TAKAHI - PUNI / [photograph] / T.S.S. “CAPTAIN COOK” / TO COMMEMORATE THE DEPARTURE OF THE FIRST NEW ZEALAND REGIMENT FROM / GLASGOW WHARF ON THE TSS CAPTAIN COOK ON THE 28TH NOVEMBER 1957. / THE BATTALION SAILED FOR SERVICE IN THE MALAYAN EMERGENCY AND THIS WAS THE / FIRST TIME A NEW ZEALAND REGULAR FORCE HAD BEEN DISPATCHED ON ACTIVE SERVICE / TO SERVE IN A WAR OR EMERGENCY. / WE HONOUR THOSE OF OUR MEMBERS WHO MADE THE SUPREME SACRIFICE FOR THEIR / COUNTRY AND THOSE MEMBERS WHO HAVE PASSED ON. / KURA - TAKAHI - PUNI / WE ARE READY."
The other records the departure of the Second Battalion in 1959 (SECOND BATTALION / THE NEW ZEALAND REGIMENT 1959-1961 / THE SECOND BATTALION THE NEW ZEALAND REGIMENT DEPARTED WELLINGTON FOR / MALAYA ON THE TSS CAPTAIN COOK ON 8 NOVEMBER 1959. THIS WAS TO BE THE LAST / TROOPSHIP OF THE 20TH CENTURY TO LEAVE NEW ZEALAND CARRYING TROOPS BOUND / FOR ACTIVE SERVICE. / THE BATTALION, PLUS DEPENDANTS, SAILED TO PENANG AND THEN MOVED TO ITS / OPERATIONAL BASE IN TAIPING. AFTER SPENDING TWO YEARS ON ANTI TERRORIST / OPERATIONS IN NORTH MALAYA THE BATTALION RETURNED TO NEW ZEALAND BY AIR IN / DECEMBER 1961."
Three plaques relate to refugee experiences. The 'Polish Children of Pahiatua' plaque, erected on 25 October 2004, honours the memory of 733 Polish children who arrived in New Zealand as refugees in October 1944. The 'MV Goya plaque' records the arrival of the MV Goya, in Wellington on three occasions in 1951 with a total of 3000 refugees and displaced persons on board. A plaque unveiled by the President of Hungary on 14 November 2016 records the gratitude of the Hungarian Government and people to New Zealanders for welcoming Hungarian refugees to New Zealand after the 1956 Hungarian Revolution ("367 souls arrived between December 1956 and December 1957 aboard the MS Sibjak").
Other plaques (not pictured here) pay tribute to the contributions made to Wellington and New Zealand by Irish immigrants and their descendants; record the career of the 4-masted barque Pamir (which was seized as a prize of war by the New Zealand Government in 1941); honour the 'Vindi Boys' (alumni of TS Vindicatrix, an English training ship); record the arrival and departure from Wellington of the HMS Endeavour in support of the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition in 1956; and (in both English and Japanese) honour naval Lieutenant Nobu Shirase, who led a privately funded Japanese expedition to the Antarctic in 1911-1912.
Images: Michelle Appleton, 2024
Text: Bruce Ringer, 2024