Further funding for Pike memorial needed

Nicole Mathewson Reporter from The Press

By local democracy reporter Brendon McMahon:

A memorial area at the Pike River Mine on the West Coast is expected to be built in about a year, the Department of Conservation (DOC) says.

However, funding is yet to be confirmed for a planned visitor centre as part of the four-stage project marking the Pike River Mine disaster.

The Pike 29 Memorial Track formally opened on February 16, in conjunction with the Pike River families group, Te Rūnunga o Ngati Waewae, and DOC.

DOC Western South Island operations director Mark Davies briefed the West Coast Conservation Board on February 21, a few days after the track was formally opened.

Davies said a pavilion and memorial at the mine portal, the third stage, is funded and expected to be completed in about 12 months.

This included 1km of sealed pedestrian access along the existing road edge to the portal.

The track was the second stage of four, which are part of plans agreed with representatives of the victims' families and the Government in 2015.

It aimed to provide a permanent memorial to the 29 men who died, as well as providing local economic benefit to the community.

The fourth stage of the plans, to turn part of the former mine administration area into a visitor centre, was at the planning stage, with funding yet to be confirmed, Davies said.

"The families understand that, the ministers understand that. We will support the families through the process."

He did not specify the original budget, but said timing and inflation had impacted the original concept.

The Paparoa Track opened in late 2019, representing the first new 'great walk' built in decades.

The Pike 29 Memorial Track is an 11km side route off the Paparoa Track, providing a loop for walkers and mountain bikers. It begins and ends near Blackball which has reinvented itself as as a base for the track.

Davies said the original agreement was for the Pike 29 track to be where "the story is told" of the 2011 tragedy.

The track has a view of the mine shaft, but at this stage the portal area remains off-limits.

Significantly, he said the recent opening marked the formal return of some of the Pike River Valley to public access for the first time since 2006.

The valley had been added to the Paparoa National Park in 2016, but DOC had to pause opening it due to the 2017 decision to reenter the drift of the Pike Mine.

The department resumed its work after June 2022, including a significant upgrade of the access road and its bridges, Davies said.

Davies said keeping public vehicles out of the area was respectful to those who died - although the department will continue to use the road for gas monitoring purposes

"The road is quite steep and we don't want the public to take vehicles up to the portal."

Davies said it was an "absolute privilege to be leading" the second aspect of the project.

He paid tribute to the board for helping facilitate a quick review of the Paparoa National Park management plan in conjunction with Ngāti Waewae in 2017.

This enabled the concept including the great walk and memorial track.
The process at the time had become "an exemplar" around what can be done to adapt national park plans including "breathing life" into Te Tiriti partnerships, he said.


* LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.