The restoration of our Ancestors' graves

1. The Grave of Retimana Te Korou:

In November 2019, Huria Robens led a short tour of sites of significance to our tipuna Retimana Te Korou.

At the Archer Street Cemetery, Masterton, it was noted that Retimana’s grave was in need of a good cleanup and maybe a renewal of the plaque, due to some spelling being incorrect (e.g. Whakamairu was spelt Whakamairn) and some letters had broken away.

Headstones Wairarapa (HW) were contacted for a quote to clean the headstone and repair/replace the lettering.  Because it was an historic grave, Headstones Wairarapa contacted Gareth Winter, a local historian, to confirm our statement about the incorrect spelling being valid.

Gareth replied “the information about the names is right. I have no idea how the ‘Whakamairn’ was ever put there, or how it has stayed that way for so long.”

Furthermore, he said, “I am happy to advocate for Masterton District Council to accept part of the costs for repairing the grave.”

HW on that same day, 20 November, quoted $800.00 to simply change the surname spellings, repair other letters, and clean the marble.

The quote was referred to Huria Robens (Chairperson of Ngāti Te Korou). For quite some time after that, the project seemed to remain in limbo. But during this intervening period, the job increased its scope from being a simple clean up, spelling correction, and replacement of letters, to a full replacement of the large memorial itself. But Huria decreed the intricate design work surrounding the memorial must remain intact and not be covered over.

On 20 December 2021, Huria gave her approval for the project to proceed with the carara marble to replace the existing epitaph at a cost of $2240.00. And the Masterton District Council (MDC) had agreed to absorb the full cost. The reason for this kind gesture was because of the history surrounding Retimana Te Korou and his involvement in the formation of the town of Masterton. So, his grave was of significance to the whole town.

Prior to this point, the Elers family had run two raffles to pay for the expected cost of the exercise. A profit of $2400.00 had been banked as a result of that fundraiser. However, as the restoration cost was being covered by MDC, we were in the position to investigate what other work needed to be done on our other ancestors’ graves.

So, the exercise involving the restoration of the Te Korou grave was finished when the unveiling of the new memorial took place on Monday 6th June 2022 (Queen’s Birthday weekend).

2. The Graves of Carew, Meri, and Ethel:

With an unexpected surplus of $2400.00 in the bank, it was proposed we tend to three more graves that were in a rather tired state. Those graves being Carew Thomas Elers, his wife Meri (Whakamairu) Elers, and their daughter Ethel Louisa (Elers) Donaldson.

Headstones Wairarapa were again contacted for a quote to tidy up the headstones and touch up the lettering. Or if they recommended the headstones should be replaced in full, then supply a quote for that.

The recommendation was to fully replace the wearing marble with two more new, polished matching desks with the same inscriptions at $2300.00 total, for Meri and Ethel; and for Carew, replace the existing marble tablet with a new granite plaque with the same inscription at $1017.75.

These quotes were accepted and approval was given to proceed with making the items.

Again, a raffle appeal was made to the family and a further $2000.00 was raised. With $4400.00 in the bank , we were now in the position to pay the costs of replacement.

All the graves were in a beautiful condition for the unveilings. Water blasting, painting of concrete surrounds were performed by Peter and Bernard Himona, Francis Elers, and James Goodger. Our thanks to those men for the excellent work done. 

For anyone visiting the graves of Meri and Ethel, the existence of a painted concrete “box” will be noted. Māori tikanga dictates that no items associated with graves should leave the cemetery. So Peter and Bernard built a storage box at the foot of their grave, and buried the old plaques within it. However, the old plaque on Carew’s grave was inset into the concrete headstone so the new one was simply installed on top of it.

Huria Robens blessed both the old and the new plaques prior to the families arriving for the unveilings.

The memorials were all made in time to unveil them on Saturday 22 October 2022 (Labour Weekend).  It is our hope that these new plaques will stand the test of time and last for the next 100 years.

All in all, a great feeling of satisfaction, that we honoured our ancestors by keeping their memories alive, and having the respect for them to refurbish their burial sites.
We are thankful to our whānau for supporting this very worthwhile project

Directions to the Graves:

1. Retimana Te Korou, Irihapeti Whakamairu, Hapeta Whakamairu, Huriana Whakamairu, and Ihaia Whakamairu

At the Archer Street Cemetery car park, through the gate and about 30 metres in front of you on the left hand side (Row 4 Plan III).

2. Meri Elers and Ethel Donaldson:

From Te Korou’s grave keep walking east for about 50 metres and turn right into Row 9 Plan II. Grave is on the right.

3. Carew Thomas Elers:

Back to the pathway, head east and turn right into Row 20 Plan II. Grave is on the right.